Members:

• Shinkawa Shouichi [新川 昌一]/ Sterben [ステルベン]
• Shinkawa Kyouji [新川 恭二] / Spiegel [シュピーゲル]
• Kanamoto Atsuishi [金本 敦] / Johnny Black [ジョニーブラック]

Death Gun [死銃] was a group of players in the VRMMORPG title Gun Gale Online. Founded by the brothers Shinkawa Kyouji, and Shikawa Shouichi. Shikawa Shouichi was also a former player in Sword Art Online and member of the Red Guild, Laughing Coffin. With his connections to other Laughing Coffin members that the two would later invite SAO survivor and Laughing Coffin coordinate Kanamoto Atsuishi for assistance in the player deaths in the real world.

In Gun Gale Online the group take control of their avatar Sterben, to mysteriously cause players to forcefully log out after being fired at with their "Death Gun", as a result of dying in the real world.
Sterben can be identified with his dark grey optical camouflage mantle, his skeletal mask with illumionous red lenses, and their "Death Gun", a Type 54 "Black Star" pistol.

History

After escaping Sword Art Online, Shinkawa Shouichi was invited to play Gun Gale Online by his brother. Being reluctant to commit himself to another game after being locked into Sword Art Online, his interest in the game surged after purchasing a Metamaterial Optical Camouflage mantle through the RMT system. This special item had the ability for him to cloak his appearance, stalking other players without being noticed. To his advantage, he could spy on players as they entered their private information into various terminals in the Governor's Office.

After some time, during a discussion the two brothers had regarding the player XeXeeD, and their promotion of false skill allocation advice, Shouichi noted that he had XeXeeD private information on hand, including his home address. A plan was hatched leading to what would become the Death Gun. Using a stolen muscle relaxant called succinylcholine, one brother would operate the Sterben avatar, while the other would break into XeXeeD's house, injecting him with a lethal dosage of the relaxant, synchronising their actions to enact a scene where it would appear that XeXeeD had died to an in-game action.

While XeXeeD had been the first target, the two found sport in killing more people, building a list of seven potential targets who all fulfilled the requirements of allowing someone to sneak into their houses. Their next target became Usujio Tarako, a reputable Gun Gale Online player, who led the second largest squadron on the server. While speaking to his squadron in SBC Glocken, he was approached by Sterben and shot with the Death Gun. Any damage taken was nulled due to the safety of the town, but shortly after his avatar disconnected, and his body was found dead in his apartment a few days later.
After these two incidents, rumours started to spread about Sterben and the Death Gun, but many players dismissed it. Unhappy with the result, the two decided to take their plans to the next level, opting to kill three players during the third Battle of Bullets tournament.

The targets Pale Rider, Garrett, and Sinon had been marked for death. However, this brought up complications with how the two brothers would coordinate their actions, primarily as Sinon lived futher away from the other two contestants, she was a target that the brothers would struggle to eliminate alone. To solve this issue, former Sword Art Online player, and member of Laughing Coffin, Kanamoto Atsushi, was invited into the group. Atsushi became responsible for eliminating Pale Rider and Garrett, while Shinkawa targeted Sinon during the events of the second Battle of Bullets.

After the events of Gun Gale Online, Kanamoto was able to successfuly escape the local authorities and go into hiding, armed with the last dosage of succinylcholine. After stalking Kirito and Asuna one late night after an offline meet at the Dicey Cafe, Kanamoto attacked Kirito, injecting the lethal dosage into his blood stream, putting him into cardiac arrest.

References

Death Gun - SAO Fan Wiki
Kanamoto Atsushi - SAO Fan Wiki
Shinkawa Kyouji - SAO Fan Wiki
Shinkawa Shouichi - SAO Fan Wiki
Type 54 "Black Star" - SAO Fan Wiki