Illinois man 'showing off' shotgun to friends fatally shoots self in head to prove it is empty

An Illinois man died over the weekend after he shot himself while trying to prove to his friends that his shotgun was empty by pointing it as his head and pulling the trigger.

According to the Sun-Times Media Wire, Evanston police responded at around 9:45 on Sunday night to a 911 call about a man accidentally shooting himself in the head.

Police said that the man was “on the floor with a shotgun wound to his head. The shotgun was lying beside him."

Cook County Medical Examiner’s office identified the man as 31-year-old Eric Zyzanski.

Witnesses at the apartment reportedly told police that Zyzanski pulled out his shotgun “began showing it off” to a group of friends. But his friends “became alarmed and told him to put it away."

Zyzanski apparently attempted to demonstrate that the firearm was not a threat by ejecting "2-3 rounds," a police statement said.

He then "held the shotgun to his cheek, told his friends it was empty and pulled the trigger."

Police found that all of the witnesses “gave consistent accounts of what had happened," and the evidence supported their stories.

Listen to the audio report below from WBBM, broadcast Aug. 4, 2014.

[Photo: A smoking 12 bore shotgun having ejected spent a cartridge by Max Earey via Shutterstock]