'It hurt a lot:' Boy recovering after laser gun set blew up in his face on Christmas Day

FARMINGTON, Utah -- A boy is recovering after one of his Christmas gifts blew up in his face!

It started off as a fun Christmas morning for the Kirkwood family -- enjoying family time and opening gifts.

"They were excited to open the laser gun set right away," said Lesha Kirkwood, mother.

"It was working, but it was just heating up, so I'm like, 'what's wrong with it?'" said Kempton Kirkwood.

Home video shows Kempton tried taking the batteries out of the malfunctioning gun, and then reacting as battery acid sprayed into his face.

"That's when I saw and heard this little explosion -- 'pop' kind of sound," said Lesha Kirkwood.

"So when I looked at it, it just like sprayed me in the eye and it hurt a lot, so I screamed," said Kempton Kirkwood.

The family rushed Kempton to the emergency room, where doctors flushed out his eyes.

Lesha Kirkwood said they weren't going to report the incident, but the next day, they saw the same thing happened to another person on Christmas in San Antonio, Texas.

"It made a popping noise and it squirted black stuff all over me," said Maria Rendon.

Realizing her son's injury wasn't a fluke, Lesha Kirkwood felt it was her responsibility to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else.

"If something feels wrong about a toy or any device, you should stay away from it," said Lesha Kirkwood.

Kempton Kirkwood suffered corneal abrasions and was given steroids and antibiotics. The family reached out to the manufacturer of the gun set on Thursday, Dec. 27 -- a company called Merchsource. They advised Lesha Kirkwood to mail back the set and send them copies of their medical bills. They also offered to send a care package with an upgraded model of the guns.

"I was a little hesitant about that, I don't know if I'm quite ready for that," said Lesha Kirkwood.

The family said they're grateful Kempton Kirkwood would be OK.