On Thursday shortly before 10 p.m., the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office got word of a shooting on the Historic Columbia River Highway. Several deputies arrived at the scene, about 30 miles east of Portland, and found a man with a gunshot wound to his upper leg.

On the phone, the man had told police that he had pulled over to the side of the road to urinate and that while he was doing so, someone ran up and shot him in the leg.

Within a few minutes, however, police say they found out the story was a little different.

“It came out that it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Sgt. Brandon White, “After a little bit of interviewing and trying to sort things out.”

White said police believe the man had the gun in his car, and the gun misfired, wounding him in his upper leg. The man was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, White said. He said there were other people in the car at the time.

White said he’s not sure why the man chose to tell officers that someone else had shot him. He said as far as he knows, the man has not been charged for anything related to the incident.

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.