LAUREL HILL, Fla. -- A few extra pounds may have saved James "Bubba" Taylor's life.

The boy, who turns 9 on Tuesday, avoided serious injury after being struck by a .38-caliber bullet during a target-shooting accident, officials said.

"He's a little chunky," his grandmother, Alice Harper, told the Northwest Florida Daily News for its Tuesday editions. "Thank God."

Taylor was shot Saturday by a neighbor, James Hinshaw, 44, who was practicing marksmanship with the child. The bullet entered Taylor's right side, and traveled through his flesh without striking any organs.

Harper said the boy didn't even originally realize he'd been shot until he looked down and saw blood.

"He heard the shot and it scared him because he was so close," Harper said.

Taylor was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he was treated and released the same day. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is classifying the incident as an accident.