'The Voice' Winner Kendji Girac Shoots Self, Claims It Was to 'Scare' His Girlfriend

A 27-year-old singer and former The Voice champion was rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound after he shot himself. According to Le Monde, Kendi Girac was taken to the hospital on April 22, after sustaining a bullet wound to his chest.

Girac, the stage name of Kendji Maile and winner of The Voice in France in 2014, told authorities that he accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt 45 automatic pistol her claimed to have gotten from a junk shop.

"This isn't a gangland shooting. It's an accident. He was playing with the thing and 'bam'," a witness told AFP after the shooting. "We were quietly playing the guitar... An accident can happen at any time."

However, the story changed later in the week. On April 25, Girac and prosecutors confirmed what really happened. "He was very frightened when he heard [his girlfriend] talking about leaving, he panicked and wanted to scare her," prosecutor Olivier Janson said in a press conference. "In a way, he simulated suicide. He said he took responsibility for what he did while regretting it very much."

There were also heavy levels of alcohol in his bloodstream and traces of cocaine after partying. Janson told those at the press conference that Girac's drinking was a stress point in his relationship.

Girac is lucky and will require several months to recover from the gunshot wound. The homicide probe into the shooting will be dropped and no one else was involved with the incident.