Man Accidentally Shoots Off Finger While Cleaning His Gun -- and Guess Where It Landed

"The tip of his finger flew off and hit his mother."

On Sunday evening, Steven Johnson, a Des Moines, Iowa, resident, lost his finger during a freak gun accident. After cleaning his firearm, he pulled the trigger and accidentally shot off the top of his left index finger.

The 22-year-old apparently inserted a magazine into the gun and racked the slide, the Associated Press reports. But he didn't realize that the gun was loaded, so when he pulled the trigger in an effort to see if it was in working order, a shot unexpectedly fired.

Photo Credit: Tarus

The bullet sent a piece of his finger flying across the room. But that's not all. The police report details an even creepier portion of the story: the severed tip hit his mother.

The report dryly reads, "The tip of his finger flew off and hit his mother."

Later, she drove her son to the hospital, where the two were purportedly questioned by authorities about what unfolded.

According to authorities, Johnson's story checked out, however they were unable to recover the blown-off flesh.

The gun at the center of the incident is reportedly a Tarus .380.

The lesson? There's a reason that one of the fundamental firearm safety rules is to treat every gun as if it were loaded.

(H/T: WCCO-TV via AP)

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