Man shoots himself, then jumps off bridge

GODFREY, Ill., May 3 (UPI) -- A man shot himself five times before driving from his Godfrey, Ill., home to a bridge -- a distance that took 10 minutes -- and jumped from a bridge.

Sixty-seven-year-old Franklin Carver shot himself three times in his head and twice in his chest, but none of the shots was immediately fatal, police said.

A motorist witnessed the jump and called 911 from a cell phone, but Carver drowned before emergency workers could reach him, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

"This is probably the most unusual suicide case I've ever seen in my career," said Lt. David Hayes of the Alton Police Department. "It's a bizarre case; it really is."

At the autopsy, doctors recovered five .22-caliber bullets -- three shots in Carver's head that did not penetrate his skull, one shot to his chest missed vital organs and the other bullet struck his liver.

A coroner's jury will make a final determination on the cause and manner of Carver's death.