Man shoots self while cleaning his gun

A 36-year-old Hillsboro man received a lesson in gun safety last week when he shot himself in the leg while drinking and cleaning a loaded gun.

“I’m sure it hurt,” police chief Dan Kinning said. “That’s why alcohol and guns don’t mix.”

A report was originally received for a suspicious person after the man went to a house in the 400 block of S. Ash St. and asked for help as he was bleeding, according to police reports.

The man’s gun also was defective, Kinning said.

The man was taken to Newton Medical Center by a friend before police arrived on scene.

While the wound was self-inflicted, that was not the automatic assumption, Kinning said.

“The first thing we think is that someone shot somebody,” he said. “That’s the way we treat it until we know better.”