Graphic Content:
A man who was filmed shooting at a lawn mower packed with explosives has lost his leg in the resulting explosion.
32-year-old David Pressley was shooting at an old ride-on lawnmower packed with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder when the accident occurred reports USA Today.
Video of the incident shows Pressley dressed in ‘a tactical vest’ shooting a semi-automatic rifle at the lawn mower.
On the last shot, the lawn mower dramatically explodes, showering the camera with shrapnel. Pressley then shouts: “I blew my leg off!” While someone else shouts: “Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!”
Two friends made a tourniquet around his leg and drove him to a nearby road where they were met by Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
“EMS advised David was missing his left leg below the knee,” the Sheriff’s Department report says.
Pressley was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and is now recovering from the incident.
One of Pressley’s friends told investigators they put three pounds of Tannerite into an old lawn mower ‘to blow it up’. Tannerite is the brand name of a combination of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder which when shot creates an explosion.
These sorts of videos have become popular on the Internet and according to Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman:
We get a lot of calls about Tannerite. It can be extremely dangerous if it is not used correctly.
No shit.