SYRACUSE, NY -- A 15-year-old Corcoran High School student playing with a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol shot himself in the face early this morning while while his girlfriend sat on his lap, Syracuse police said.

Police originally received a call at 1:15 a.m. for a self-inflicted stab wound to the face of a boy at 369 Midland Ave., Sgt. Tom Connellan, speaking for city police, said.

The bleeding 15-year-old, who police are not identifying because of his age, was being taken to an ambulance as police arrived, Connellan said. The ambulance crew, however, said because of powder burns on the face, the wound appeared to be caused by a gunshot at close range.

The boy's 16-year-old girlfriend, however, told police the boy stabbed himself in the face and threw the knife away in the back yard, Connellan said. She agreed to show police where the knife was tossed and while she was doing so police discovered a handgun, Connellan said.

When the handgun was found, the girlfriend changed her story and told police the boy did shoot himself, Connellan said.

Connellan gave the girl's account of what happened:

The boy was sitting on a couch at the Midland Avenue address, which is the home of the boy's cousin, and the girlfriend was sitting on his lap. The boy pulled out a handgun and began to play with it.

When the girlfriend complained, the boy said that the gun's safety was on. The boy twice put the gun to his face twice and pulled the trigger with no result. The girlfriend pushed the gun away when her boyfriend put it to his face the second time.

Then boy placed the gun to his face a third time, pulled the trigger and the gun fired, the girl told police.

Shaphina Kimbrough, 29, the boy's cousin, said she did not know the boy had a gun, Connellan said. She said she was upset that a gun was brought into her home because she has young children. She was asleep at the time of the shooting, Connellan said.

The boy was staying at his cousin's home because he was having problems with his mother, Connellan said.

The boy was taken to University Hospital, where he is in serious condition.

Police charged the boy as a juvenile through Family Court with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, both felonies. Appearance tickets for the boy were given to the boy's mother at the hospital, Connellan said.

The handgun has not been reported stolen and police aren't sure where he got the gun, Connellan said