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Man accidentally kills himself while taking a selfie with a gun

Self portraits apparently aren't all that safe.

 

Mike Wehner

Tech

Posted on Mar 3, 2016   Updated on May 27, 2021, 3:32 am CDT

Selfies are usually harmless, but occasionally, they can be deadly. That was the case for one Washington man who decided to snap a photo of himself with a firearm in hand. 

Police in Concrete, Washington, have ruled the man’s death an accident after he shot and killed himself while attempting to pose for a selfie. The man’s girlfriend told investigators that the couple had snapped several photos with the weapon throughout the day but that a bullet had accidentally been left in it during the incident. 

As strange as this tragedy may seem, it’s just one of several selfie-related deaths and injuries reported so far in 2016. The causes range from Bison attacks to drowning, but all of the incidents occurred while the victims were trying to capture a particularly striking self-portrait. 

It’s also not the first gun death to involve a selfie. In 2013, a teenage girl in Arizona accidentally killed her brother while the two posed for photos that they planned to post on Facebook. 

H/T Washington Post | Photo via daspader/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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*First Published: Mar 3, 2016, 2:16 pm CST