A 19-year-old Texan has accidentally shot and killed himself while posing with a gun for a selfie.

Police said Deleon Alonso Smith died of a gunshot wound to the throat in an apartment in southwestern Houston.

Smith allegedly found a gun and had been taking pictures of himself and a cousin holding the weapon, and posting them online, when the gun discharged.

• Father may lose his hand after selfie goes wrong
• ‘Tourists killing Africa’s lions one selfie at a time’
• Selfie helps police net Queensland ‘echidnappers’

The cousin was in another room when the gun fired shooting Smith.

“It’s the worst feeling in my life,” Smith’s uncle Eric Douglas said.

Smith, who leaves behind two young daughters, was supposed to begin attending community college this week.

It is not the first fatality linked to an attempt to take a selfie.

Two people – the 29-year-old pilot and his passenger – died last year in Colorado in a plane crash investigated by the US National Transportation Safety Board.

The authorities concluded their attempt to take a selfie during the flight led to the crash.

And two Poles died last year in Portugal when they fell while taking photos of themselves on a steep cliff.