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Cleveland police arrested a 37-year-old man accused of accidentally shooting his wife.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 37-year-old man was arrested Thursday after he accidentally shot his wife in the leg while trying to learn how to use the safety on his new gun, police said.

The man has not been formally charged but was arrested on suspicion of felonious assault and domestic violence, according to police.

The shooting happened about 7:15 p.m. Thursday at their home in the 16900 block of South Miles Road.

The 40-year-old woman, her husband of four years and the man's mother all gave the same version of events to officers, according to police reports.

All three were standing in the kitchen talking about their day while the man tried to put the safety on his gun.

The man's mother asked her son: "What are you doing? Putting the safety on or off?," according to police reports.

The gun fired a bullet that struck his wife in the right upper thigh, police reports say.

The man told police he bought the gun about a month ago for home protection and was not familiar with how it works, according to police reports.

Officers found the gun on the kitchen table and arrested the man as he was walking out of his home, police said.

The woman was taken to University Hospitals for treatment.

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