Lake Elsinore Man May Lose Hand After Attempting To Take Selfie With Rattlesnake

LAKE ELSINORE (CBSLA.com) — A Lake Elsinore man was bitten by a rattlesnake Monday as he picked it up and attempted to take a selfie.

Alex Gomez, 36, spotted the four-foot rattler in a field by his family’s ranch on Cielito Drive, shortly before he made the potentially deadly mistake.

“I’m shocked that he would have that things around his neck,” Alex’s mother Deborah said. “It could’ve bit his neck, and that would have been it. That’s just being a fool.”

Alex’s nephew, Ronnie, was with him when the snake was discovered, and says the reptile gave plenty of warning.

“It was really think and had ten rattles on it, it was rattling,” Ronnie said. “It was pretty mad.”

Upon being bitten, Gomez, who is a father a three, was experiencing excruciating pain as he was taken to a local hospital. His hand swelled up and his body started to tingle. His neighbor, Byron Bonilla, called 9-1-1 immediately.

While Gomez is being treated with anti-venom, his mother says he may lose his hand.

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