By Courtney Dentch
Michael “Gerald” Henry, 18, and his girlfriend Nadera “Samantha” Goodson, 16, were sitting on a bed in the boarded-up vacant home on Foch Boulevard where the pair was living about 11:30 a.m. when Henry took a .32-caliber revolver and removed all but one of the five bullets to start the game, Brown said.Goodson was arrested and charged with manslaughter and gun possession, the district attorney said.”The defendant – a 16-year-old female – is alleged to have recklessly shot and killed her 18-year-old boyfriend using an illegal handgun while playing a game of Russian roulette inside a residence in Jamaica,” Brown said in a statement. “The crime is a shocking example of mindless gun-related violence that takes innocent lives and recklessly endangers public safety.”Henry started the game of Russian roulette, police said, removing all but one bullet from the gun and putting the barrel into Goodson's mouth. He pulled the trigger and the gun clicked on the empty chamber, police said. He put the gun to his own head and squeezed the trigger and again the gun clicked, police said.Goodson took the weapon and put it to Henry's head, Brown said. She pulled the trigger and the gun went off, the district attorney said.Goodson called out the window for help, but Henry was pronounced dead at Mary Immaculate Hospital, police said.Goodson, who was living in Brooklyn with her mother until March, was charged with reckless manslaughter and weapons possession and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, the district attorney said. She was arraigned in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens Sunday and was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail, Brown said.Goodson's lawyer, David Cohen, said Henry fired the fatal round himself and that she only touched the gun after the shooting. But she gave police alternate accounts during her interrogation. One version reportedly included a confession that she did shoot him in the head, a spokeswoman for the DA said.Henry was adopted by a Laurelton family when he was 2 years old, according to published reports. He left home to live with Goodson in July. Henry told his mother the home's owner let them live there in exchange for making sure a family that had been evicted did not return, Newsday reported. His family could not be reached.Tangeria Wright, the East Elmhurst woman listed as the owner of the house on city Department of Finance records, was not available for comment.Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
