In the spring of 1994, a young American man named Ronald Opus decided to commit suicide. In his suicide note, he explained that he was taking this step due to financial problems and a lack of understanding from his parents. After writing the note, Mr. Opus climbed onto the windowsill and jumped from the ninth floor. He probably wouldn't have died if he had known that window washers had stretched a safety net at the seventh-floor level that day. After falling two floors, he would have landed on the net and survived, but with wet pants. But an incredible event occurred – a truly fatal stroke of bad luck! As Ronald was falling past the eighth-floor window, he was struck in the head by a shotgun blast fired by a resident of that floor. While the police were retrieving the body from the net and identifying the deceased with his head almost completely blown apart by the shot, detectives decided to charge the shooter with manslaughter. After all, if it hadn't been for the shot, Ronald Opus would have survived the fall onto the net.

Further investigation revealed new circumstances. It turned out that the elderly man was shooting at his wife, but missed, and the shot hit the window. The detectives then decided to add attempted murder (of his wife) to the manslaughter charge. It turned out that during arguments and fits of anger, he often took an unloaded shotgun from the wall and made a «warning shot» – clicking the trigger to scare his wife. This was a kind of family ritual. According to both spouses, the shotgun always hung on the wall and was never loaded. According to American law, the charge of involuntary manslaughter should now be brought against whoever secretly loaded the shotgun.

Who did it? It turned out that only their son had free access to the couple's room. Police detectives contacted his friend and learned many interesting things. Knowing that his father often threatened his mother with a weapon, the son secretly loaded the shotgun, hoping that during the first argument his father would shoot his mother, and he himself would end up in prison. However, the couple had been living peacefully for the past few weeks, which greatly upset the son. Where was he? The old man was surprised and replied that his son lived on the floor above. It turned out that this son was Ronald Opus himself! He was the one who loaded the shotgun, and when his revenge failed, in despair he jumped out of the window and was killed by his own father's shot, the very father he wanted to send to prison. The suicide took place, but not in the way Opus intended.

Although this story seems like a fabrication, it is a documented fact.