YouTuber suffers horrific injuries after 'freak accident' on camera
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: A popular YouTuber has been hospitalised after a gun exploded tearing a hole through his neck and puncturing his lung.
Scott DeShields Jr, who runs YouTube channel Kentucky Ballistics, was testing a Serbu RN-50 rifle on April 9 for a video when the ammunition exploded.
A video on Instagram shows Mr DeShields testing the rifle, which he said he’s been using “for a long time now” but noted the ammunition was “acting a little funny” with some of the rounds not hitting their exact trajectory.
He said one last round he put in the Serbu was “extra hot” but he had “no way of knowing”.
As he fires the last round, the gun explodes and sends his protective goggles and cap flying. The solid steel cap on the back of the gun smacks into his face as he falls from his chair to the ground.
“A one inch piece of metal blew through my neck lacerating my jugular vein and puncturing a hole in my right lung,” he wrote on Instagram.
“My right lung would later fill with blood and collapse. My right orbital bone broke in three places and my nose broke. I went blind in my right eye instantly.”
His vision returned a day later but the explosion also snapped his index finger and fractured his ribs. Mr DeShields believes the ammunition had been tampered with.
Gun explosion sees YouTuber rushed to hospital
His dad Scott, who was behind the camera that day, rushed him to the emergency room. He wrote he had to place his left thumb over a hole in his neck to stop the bleeding. Doctors would later tell him the act surely saved his life.
A photo shows Mr DeShields, who has more than 1.75 million YouTube subscribers, bedridden and intubated.
“After having my right lung intubated and drained while I was awake, I was then sedated and life-flighted to Vanderbilt hospital in Nashville,” he wrote.
“The trauma team saved my life. They cut open my rib cage completely to remove the shrapnel, repair my lung and repair my jugular vein.”
YouTuber lucky to be alive
Mr DeShields lost a “tremendous amount” of blood. Doctors told him most people would have died from the injuries he’s suffered.
He called it a "freak accident".
Another photo on his Instagram account shows a scar down his neck to between his pecs.
“My rib cage is going to take some time to fully seal back together, I’m low on hydraulic fluid and my index finger has pins in it. I’m not complaining though,” he wrote.
“I’m healing fast! My eye has no structural damage, sight has almost completely returned, my lung works great and most importantly my jugular was repaired with no issues.”
Mr DeShields added he’s thankful he survived after he “almost bit the dust”.
“Life has a new flavour now. I’m so excited to get back to living again, but now as Scott 2.0,” he wrote.
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