Man shoots himself in face after bullet ricochets off armadillo

Not since Friends’ Ross Geller donned a fancy dress costume to try and explain the story of Hannukah to his son has America seen such a misguided armadillo-based gambit.

A Texas man was wounded recently after he fired a gun at an armadillo in his backyard and the bullet ricocheted back to hit him in the face.

Local authorities said the man, who has not been identified, went outside his home in Marietta, East Texas, at around 3 a.m. last Thursday morning. He opened fire after spotting the offending animal intruding on his property.

“His wife was in the house. He went outside and took his .38 revolver and shot three times at the armadillo”, said County Sheriff Larry Rowe.

Unfortunately for the man, he hadn’t accounted for the armadillo’s hard shell, which deflected at least one of three bullets into his jaw.

The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where his jaw was wired shut, according to Rowe.

The animal’s status is unknown.

“We didn’t find the armadillo”, the sheriff said.