A Georgia man who shot an armadillo also ended up shooting his mother-in-law when the bullet ricocheted off the animal's armor in what police have called an "unusual" set of circumstances.
Larry McElroy, 54, was standing outside his mother-in-law's mobile home in Leesburg when he open fired on an armadillo from a 9mm pistol, Lee County Sheriff's deputies told WALB.
The bullet killed the animal, but it then bounced off the armor, struck a fence, went through the back door of the mobile home and into the back of a recliner where his mother-in-law was sitting.
Carol Johnson, 74, was struck in the back. Sheriffs say she was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"Just the circumstances, just all the way around, the whole situation was unusual," Bill Smith of the county sheriff's office told WALB.
McElroy was standing about 100 yards away from the mobile home when he shot the armadillo, the station reported. James Morgan, extension coordinator for Dougherty County, said they allow residents to shoot armadillos as a way to get rid of them.
"However, you have to be safe when you do that," Morgan told WALB.
McElroy was not charged for the accidental shooting.
