"Kill me, too, kill me, too," Eric J. Orloske told St. Paul police officers Saturday night after they kicked in the front door of his home and found him holding a towel over his older brother's bleeding head wound, according to court documents.

Orloske, 38, of St. Paul, was charged Monday in Ramsey County District Court with one count of second-degree murder in the death of his brother, Brian Orloske, 40, of Houlton, Wis.

According to the criminal complaint, the brothers and three other men spent the evening at Eric Orloske's home in the 1300 block of Reaney Avenue, planning a motorcycle trip.

The three others left about 10:30 p.m., but one who lived nearby returned when he heard sirens. He told police that Eric and Brian, along with one of the visitors, had been drinking shots of whiskey. The brothers began "play wrestling" with each other and, in doing so, smashed items in the house.

The witness said he and the other sober man talked on the phone after they left and became concerned that the brothers, who were drunk, would try to drive. The man returned to the house and took the car keys of both of the brothers, then left again at 10:45 p.m.

Eric Orloske called police at 11:03 p.m. He asked "multiple times" for police to send an ambulance for a victim with a head wound and he confessed to being the shooter, the complaint said.

Officers kicked in the locked front door and found Eric Orloske kneeling over his brother, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Brian Orloske was unconscious but appeared to be breathing, the complaint said. A shotgun was found on the stairs from the living room to the second floor.

"Officers asked Eric Orloske what had happened, and he started to cry and shook his head from side to side," the complaint said.

Brian Orloske was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. The medical examiner's office found that, in addition to the gunshot, he had broken ribs, contusions and abrasions on his forearm, back and leg.

Eric Orloske is being held in the Ramsey County jail and has a court hearing Tuesday.

The shooting was St. Paul's sixth homicide this year and the second in two weeks involving brothers. On Feb. 20, George E. Robertson, 58, allegedly stabbed his brother, Kelvin Robertson, 50, after they argued about an overflowing bathtub. Robertson also has been charged with murder.

Pat Pheifer • 612-741-4992