By Rosemary Regina Sobol, Chicago Tribune

A 31-year-old Evanston, Ill., man is dead after he accidentally shot himself with his shotgun while “showing it off” with friends Sunday night, authorities said.

Eric Zyzanski was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m. at Evanston Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police responded to an apartment at 9:45 p.m. for a person who had shot himself, according to a written statement from Evanston police.

A resident in the apartment ran to a neighbor’s home to call the police and when officers got there, they found the 31-year-old on the floor with a shotgun wound to his head, and a shotgun lying beside him, the statement said.

Police learned the victim was with several friends when he retrieved his gun and began showing it off, the statement said. His friends became alarmed and told him to put it away but he removed two to three rounds, held the gun to his cheek, and told his friends it was empty before he pulled the trigger, the statement said.

Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Diane Davis said Zyzanski was the legal owner of the gun and that no foul play is suspected.

Detectives interviewed the friends who were in the apartment and all of them gave consistent accounts of what had happened, according to the statement. Evidence technicians processed the scene and the body and the evidence corroborated the witnesses’ accounts.

Photo: Rob Bixby via Flickr

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