HONESDALE -- A teen from Wayne County is receiving well wishes from her fellow classmates after being shot in the face and the person charged with the shooting is her own father.
The girl is recovering at Geisinger-Community Medical Center.
Channell Turner, 15, was flown to the hospital last weekend from Honesdale, after her own father, Matthew Holmes, 38, allegedly shot her in the face.
Holmes says his daughter means the world to him and he shared his story with us today.
"It was an accident. It was a freak accident how I did it, so the most blessed thing out of this whole situation was that she's alive."
Matthew Holmes of Honesdale says it's his job to make others laugh in life but an accident this past weekend was anything but a laughing matter for him.
It was in a home on 11th Street that police say his semi-automatic handgun accidentally went off when he was removing a live round from the chamber and then the magazine.
Holmes says the bullet hit his daughter Channell in the jaw.
"I grabbed her quick and put my hands around her quick and she was bleeding excessively so had to put my hands, I didn't even get a rag, I just took my whole hand and covered it."
Holmes is now charged with reckless endangerment and is out on bail.
He's been visiting his daughter ever since as she recovers at the hospital. He says she was able to speak for the first time with him.
"It was beautiful, 'Hey, Daddy.' I said 'Hey, baby. Yep, hey, baby.'"
The teen track runner from Honesdale also isn't upset with her dad.
"She said 'Daddy, come on, that's not your fault,'" Holmes said. "I would have jumped to that bullet if I was Superman. I would have jumped right in front of that bullet in a minute, whether it took my life or not."
Now this single dad has a message he wants to share, hoping no one else has to go through the pain of almost losing their only child.
"All I can say is, if you do have a weapon, be sure that you take the time. Don't feel comfortable with it because you've been working with it for so long, because it's still a weapon that can make orphans and widows."
Channell Turner is expected to be recovering at Geisinger - CMC for about two more weeks.
Holmes says doctors only expect her to have a small scar once she's recovered.
Holmes gave up his right to a preliminary hearing earlier this week.