A felon prohibited from possessing a firearm accidentally shot himself in the leg and wound up in jail, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.
Mark Cruz, 26, of Wimauma, was at an unknown address Monday when a .22-caliber gun he wasn't supposed to have fell out of his pocket and discharged, deputies said.
Cruz went to South Bay Hospital for treatment, but he was uncooperative with deputies there. He wouldn't tell them where the gun was, saying only that he tossed into an unnamed lake.
During their investigation, deputies learned Cruz is a convicted felon and, therefore, not allowed to have a firearm. They arrested him and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and tempering with or destroying physical evidence.