Third time is the charm

[genlock]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A St. Albans teenager shot himself in the face late Sunday with a gun he thought was unloaded.

Tony Michael Lawson Jr., 18, was at a friend's house on Grant Avenue in St. Albans about 10:45 p.m. when his friend showed him a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, according to Mike Matthews, interim police chief for the St. Albans Police Department.

Matthews said Lawson opened the cylinder of the revolver and dumped the cartridges out into his hand, but apparently didn't count them. Lawson then closed the cylinder, put the muzzle of the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

The gun didn't go off, so Lawson put the gun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger again, Matthews said. Again, the gun didn't fire, so Lawson pulled the trigger a third time.

This time, the gun went off, Matthews said. A bullet smashed into Lawson's right cheek and came out the other side of his face.

Lawson was taken to CAMC General Hospital, where he remained under evaluation this morning.

"It's always these unloaded guns that kill people," Matthews said. "They think it's unloaded and they end up shooting themselves or someone else."