An East Texas man was hospitalized when a bullet he fired at an armadillo ricocheted off its shell and hit him. Fortunately for the man, he only suffered a graze wound to the head.
The man shot at the animal around 3 a.m. on Thursday on Highway 77 in the Marietta area, KLTV reported. After seeing the armadillo on the freeway, the man fired a round at it but it ricocheted off the mammal’s rigid protective shell and struck him.
The man ended up in the hospital and was treated for a non-life threatening wound to the head. There is no word at this time as to the condition of the armadillo.
This is not the first armadillo-shooting-followed-by-ricochet incident this year. In April, a man in Leesburg, Georgia, accidentally shot his mother-in-law when the bullet he fired at an armadillo ricocheted off its shell and struck the 74-year-old woman in the back. She was treated for her injuries and survived. The armadillo did not.
The image above is a file photo via Getty Images / Gallo Images.