Shell Point man to Beaufort County deputies: I didn’t know I shot myself

A Shell Point man wanted to clean his gun Thursday evening, so he pulled the .22-caliber pistol from the top of his bedroom dresser.

The gun slipped from his hands.

He reached down and tried to snag it before it hit the ground.

He missed.

The pistol hit the floor, “the gun went off and shot his hand,” according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report released Friday.

The man told police he had no idea he was shot until a few moments later when “he saw blood coming from his hand,” the report said.

While all that was happening, a woman was in the kitchen cooking crabs.

She reported to deputies that she heard the gunshot but “did not think much of it.”

A relative drove the injured man to Beaufort Memorial Hospital where he was interviewed by deputies, according to the report.

Deputies searched the man’s room but found no sign of the gun.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Shell Point man to Beaufort County deputies: I didn’t know I shot myself."