Police in Cass County said the unnamed man spotted the small animal on his property at around 3am local time on Thursday and decided to kill it. His wife was in the house. He went outside and took his .38 revolver and shot three times at the armadillo, Sheriff Larry Rowe said. Its hard shell deflected at least one of the bullets, which ricocheted off struck the man's jaw.Armadillos are famed for their thick skins The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital in the city of Texarkana, where his jaw had to be wired shut, according to police. It was unclear whether the armadillo survived the encounter and its whereabouts remains a mystery. We didn't find the armadillo, the Sherrif Rowe said. It is not the first time an armadillo has exacted revenge on would-be killers in the US. In April, a mans elderly mother-in-law was shot in the back after he took aim at one of the armoured animals. Larry McElroy, 54, tried to kill the creature outside her home in Lee County, Georgia, but it deflected the bullet. A local television station reported that it bounced off the armadillo, hit a fence, went through the 74-year-olds back door and through the back of the chair she was sitting in. Bill Smith, from Lee County Sheriff's Office, told WALB: Just the circumstances - just all the way around - the whole situation was unusual. The woman was not seriously injured. Armadillos are considered a pest by many people in the southern US, where they dig up lawns, plants and crops. Additional reporting by Reuters
Daily Mail – by SNEJANA FARBEROV Dont mess with Texas armadillos. That is the lesson that one local man learned the hard way when he landed in the hospital with a bullet wound after trying to shoot one of the hardy armor-plated critters. Officials in Cass County, Texas, say the man suffered a graze wound to the head when he fired at an armadillo and the bullet ricocheted off the mammal’s rigid protective covering and struck him. The bizarre incident took place at around 3am Thursday in the 27,000 block of Highway 77 in the Marietta area, according to a report from KLTV. The shooting victim was taken to a local hospital to be treated for minor injuries. The hapless gunman has not been named. There is no word at this time on the armadillo’s status. The incident was classified by sheriffs deputies as an accidental shooting. Incredibly, this is not the first time that an armadillo got the best of a trigger-happy gunslinger. In April, 54-year-old Larry McElroy, of Leesburg, Georgia, accidentally shot his mother-in-law when the round he fired at an armadillo bounced off its shell and struck the 74-year-old woman in the back. In that case, the armadillo did not survive. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181666/Texas-man-shot-bullet-fired-armadillo-ricocheted-animal-s-shell.html#ixzz3hW1bfu4iFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
An East Texas man was hospitalized on Thursday evening after the bullet he used to shoot at an armadillo ricocheted and hit him instead, reports kltv.com. According to the Cass County Sheriff's Office, the accident happened on the freeway of Highway 77 in Marietta at approximately 3:00 a.m. The bullet hit the man in the back of the head, however his injuries were minor, and he was released. Of course the question remains why was the man shooting an armadillo? The sheriff's office is conducting an investigation. CBSNews reported a similar situation in Leesburg, Georgia in April, when a man shot at an armadillo, and the bullet ricocheted into his mother-in-law's home hitting her in the back. Lee County Sheriff deputies say the bullet killed the armadillo, but bounced off the animal, hit a fence, traveled through the back door of the mother-in-law's mobile home and into the recliner where the 74-year-old woman had been sitting and struck her in the back. Fortunately her injuries were not life threatening. Armadillos live mostly solitary lives, eat bugs, snakes, and generally mind their own business. Leave them alone. The condition of the Texas armadillo is unknown, but we all hope he escaped unscathed. Follow the National Pet Rescue Examiner on Facebook.
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