A Man Was Shot In The Face After His Bullet Ricocheted Off An Armadillo

Silvia Izquierdo / AP

A man in Texas was injured early Thursday after he opened fire on an armadillo and the bullet ricocheted off the animal and struck him in the face, officials said.

The incident occurred around 3 a.m. local time near the small town of Marietta in eastern Texas, near the state's border with Arkansas, local station KLTV reported.

Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe told Reuters the unnamed man opened fire on the animal after spotting it in his yard.

"His wife was in the house. He went outside and took his .38 revolver and shot three times at the armadillo," Rowe told Reuters.

However, one of the three bullets deflected off the armadillo's hard shell and struck the man in the jaw, Rowe said.

The unique mammals are covered in a bony shell that encases their bodies.

The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, the sheriff said, where he had his jaw wired shot.

BuzzFeed News attempted to contact the Cass County Sheriff for more information Saturday, but officials told Reuters they were unable to locate the armadillo.

'Armadillo' is a Spanish word meaning “little armored one,” according to National Geographic.

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