Man charged with murder after 'failed suicide attempt kills girlfriend'

An Alaskan man is facing a potential lengthy prison sentence after the bullet from the gun he was allegedly using to take his own life hit his girlfriend and killed her.

According to ABCABC, 21-year-old Victor Sibson was charged with second-degree murder this week after handing himself in to cops. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held in Anchorage jail on a $250,000 bond ($333,000 AUD).

The charge relates to a 911 call by Sibson on April 19 where he told emergency services he'd shot himself.

Police found him with a gunshot wound to his head, and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Brittany-mae Haag — who he's been in a relationship with for two years — "with a significant amount of blood on her chest", the Anchorage district attorney's office said in a press release. She was transferred to hospital still conscious but died just 30 minutes later.

Anchorage District Attorney Clinton Campion told ABC a failed suicide attempt is a "fair explanation" for the injuries she suffered. The bullet may well have exited Sibson's head and then struck his girlfriend, she added.

He will appear in court in August.