STEARNS COUNTY - A Rice man was taken to the hospital after he accidentally shot himself in the leg.

The incident happened on Sunday just after 9:45 p.m. at 9789 County Road 131 in Brockway Township.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office responded to a gunshot complaint and found 24-year-old John Smoley of Rice on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to his left leg. Smoley said he was handling his 9 millimeter handgun and didn't know that it was loaded.

The gun slipped from his hand and when he tried to regain control of it, the gun fired and struck him in the leg. Smoley was taken to the hospital by a friend for treatment of the injury.

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