Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

Deputies have charged an 18-year-old South Carolina woman with the fatal shooting of a male friend who had donned a bulletproof vest and allegedly asked her to "shoot me," according to local media.

The killing occurred Wednesday in Honea Path, S.C., after 25-year-old Blake Randall Wardell discovered the old vest in a garage where he had been hanging out with friends, WYFF-TV reports.

Anderson County deputy coroner Don McCown said Wardell asked Taylor Ann Kelly to "shoot me," the TV station reports.

Kelly allegedly fired a small caliber weapon at Wardell, but the bullet went through the edge of the vest and into his heart, McCown said.

McCown said there were as many as 10 other people at the home at the time. He said no evidence at the scene of a fight or struggle, The State newspaper reports.

"It wasn't a fight. They were actually going to take a shot at the vest," McCown said, according to the newspaper. "They were going to shoot the victim with the vest on. And he was shot in the chest, just above the vest."

He said the vest appeared to be 10 or 15 years old.

Wardell died at the scene despite attempts to apply CPR, WYFF reports.

Kelly was charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a five-year prison term upon conviction.