Napping driver shoots self in leg

A man who armed himself with a gun while he and his family took a roadside nap in their car accidentally shot himself in the leg.

Mahmoud Ajaj grew sleepy while driving with his family on the Ohio Turnpike yesterday, and pulled over to the side of the road to take a nap, the Sandusky Register reported.

Before dozing off, Ajaj took a gun out of his glove box and placed it on his chest, which he told police was an effort to protect his wife and two young children in case anyone tried to rob them.

Ajaj accidentally squeezed the trigger, and the gun, which was pointed toward the driver’s side door, fired.

The bullet entered the top of his thigh and exited through the bottom of the thigh, the report said.

The 1.38am (local time) incident appeared to be "an accidental shooting", Sgt Gregory Blake told the paper.

He was flown to Mercy St Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, where was treated and released.

No charges had been filed, the paper said.

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