KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A man accidentally shot himself and his wife at an east Tennessee church on Thursday while he was showing off his gun during a discussion on recent church shootings, police said.

Police lights by night

Elder members of First United Methodist Church in Tellico Plains were cleaning up about 1 p.m. after enjoying a luncheon held to celebrate Thanksgiving. They began talking about guns in churches, according to Tellico Plains Police Chief Russ Parks.

A man in his 80s pulled out a .380 caliber Ruger handgun and said, "I carry my handgun everywhere," according to Parks.

He removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and showed the gun to some of the men in the church. He put the magazine back in, apparently loaded a round in the chamber, and returned the gun to its holster, Parks said.

"Somebody else walked up and said, 'Can I see it?'" Parks said. "He pulled it back out and said, 'With this loaded indicator, I can tell that it’s not loaded.'"

He pulled the trigger.

"Evidently he just forgot that he re-chambered the weapon," Parks said.

The gun was lying on its side on a table. The bullet sliced the palm of the man's upward-facing hand, then entered the left side of his wife's abdomen and exited the right side, Parks said.

Both the husband and wife, who is also in her 80s, were flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with injuries that police said didn't appear to be life-threatening. Their names had not been released as of Thursday evening.

Charges will not be filed, Parks said.

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Victims of the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting This April 16, 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victims John and Crystal Holcombe in Floresville, Texas. John survived the shooting but his wife Crystal, who was pregnant, was killed along with three of their children Sunday, Nov. 5, at the church. This is Peggy Warden, she was a Sunday school teacher and threw herself in front of her grandson Zach Poston and was fatally shot as she protected the 18-year-old, who then shielded a child who had been hiding under a pew. Zach Poston recovers at a hospital in San Antonio, TX. When a gunman opened fire onto the congregation at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Sunday school teacher Peggy Warden threw herself in front of her grandson Zach getting fatally shot as she protected the 18-year-old, who then shielded a child who had been hiding under a pew, according to relatives. This 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victims, from left, Megan Hill, Emily Hill, Greg Hill and survivor Evelyn Hill, bottom, in Floresville, Texas. Evelyn survived the Nov. 5 shooting at the church but her brother and sisters along with her mother, who was pregnant, were killed. This April 16, 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Emily Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill was killed along with her mother, who was pregnant, a brother and a sister at the church on Sunday, Nov. 5. This 2017 photo provided by the Holcombe Family shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Megan Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill was killed along with her mother, who was pregnant, a brother and a sister during the shooting at the church Sunday, Nov. 5. This November 2016 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Greg Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill died along with his mother, who was pregnant, and two of his sisters at the church on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. This undated student ID photo released by the Seguin Independent School District shows Annabelle Pomeroy. The 14-year-old's parents, pastor Frank Pomeroy of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs and Sherri Pomeroy, were out of town when a man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas community on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, killing more than two dozen, including Annabelle. This June 18, 2017, photo provided by Lorena Santos shows her relatives Therese Rodriguez and Richard Rodriguez in San Antonio, Texas. The couple were among those killed in the Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, at the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Undated photo of Shani Corrigan (left) and Robert Corrigan during Robert Corrigan's military retirement ceremony. Shani Corrigan and Robert Corrigan were two of the victims killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

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