Jose Canseco, a former baseball All-Star and infamous steroid user, reportedly shot off his left middle finger while cleaning one of his four guns. The non-life threatening injury occurred Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas, and was reported by Canseco's fiancee, model Leila Knight. 

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"He had been at the shooting range a few days earlier," Knight told the New York Daily News. "He didn't know it was loaded. The middle finger was hanging by a thread and I wrapped his hand in a towel and then called 911."

She continued, saying, "The doctors said they would have to amputate or do reconstructive surgery; he won't be able to use it again. He blew away an artery and a big bone chunk."

Canseco, 50, is in treatment at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Knight told reporters it was not known how long he would remain in the hospital. The gun, a Ruger pistol, is legally owned by Canseco, who had all the necessary permits for gun ownership, and had the presence of mind to show police the documents when they came to his home.

"At first the police asked me if we were in a fight. I said of course we weren't. We have four guns in the house. We are now going to have zero. I hate guns," Knight said. "Jose is a little freaked out. He keeps saying, 'Sorry, sorry.' But we're extremely lucky. Lucky it wasn't worse, or that he didn't shoot me." 

She states Canseco keeps the weapons for self defense. All gun-safety authorities strongly advise to treat guns as if they are loaded, even if it is known with certainty they are not.

Canseco last played major league baseball in 2001, and in 2005 wrote an autobiography titled "Juiced," in which he admitted to using steroids and sensationally exposed the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in major league sports. Canseco would later repeat his claims to the U.S. Congress, and implicate several other players in the scandal.  

Tagsgun, accident, finger, Jose Canseco