A six-year-old whose father shot him with flaming pellets from a firework gun gave a different account in court from what his father originally told police, Tacoma, Washington’s KIRO7 news channel reports.

Court documents revealed that the unnamed six-year-old boy, who was treated for burns in July, was the subject of his father’s ire after he allegedly didn’t answer questions about his mother’s whereabouts.

“He shooted me with a firework gun,” the child said.

His father, however, told police a different story — that he’d been trying to teach his son about gun safety when the gun accidentally went off.

“He didn’t point it at the child, he said, but a round exploded when he was trying to open the gun to load it,” KIRO7’s report noted.

The father has since been charged with third-degree child assault.