Authorities said Wednesday evening that a Missouri man shot himself in the fact after exchanging gunfire with police officers near the Normandy-Ferguson city line, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The 18-year-old man was hospitalized and is in critical condition.

At a press conference, Normandy Cpl. Tameika Sanders said that Normandy police officers responded to a report of a suicidal man—who was being followed by family members “seeking police and medical intervention,” according to a police press release—around 2 pm Wednesday afternoon.

Police exited their vehicles and tried speaking to the man, who was unresponsive, when he pulled a gun and started shooting, Sanders said.

An officer tried to use a Taser on the man, but it had no effect, Sanders said. Another officer shot at him and missed. He fled, officers lost sight of him, heard a gunshot, and found him on the ground.

Normandy Police Chief Frank Mininni said the man had shot himself in the face.

In a cellphone video uploaded to Facebook, a woman, apparently the victim’s mother, claims that he did not shoot himself, but that police shot him. Another woman, claiming to be an eyewitness, told journalist Mariah Randi Stewart the same thing.

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.