A young British man died after taking a knife to his own chest while wearing a “stab-proof vest”, according to the Teeside Gazette.

22-year-old Jordan Easton, of Thornaby, was visiting a friend’s home in August 2017 when he reportedly stabbed himself to death.

“While in the kitchen, he took hold a knife to demonstrate it was stab-proof and sadly realised it wasn’t the case,” assistant coroner Karin Welsh said during a court hearing, according to the media outlet.

Easton was then rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

While the injuries were found to be self-inflicted, the coroner said evidence didn’t show the victim truly intended to harm himself.

The man’s mother, Alison Price, expressed in a court hearing that she was having a hard time taking in the investigation’s findings.

“It’s more possible if it was bravado, showing off in front of lads, but where a mother and a young girl were, it’s out of character for him,” she told the court. “I can’t absorb it.”

The death of Easton, who had turned 22 only five days prior, was ruled a “misadventure,” meaning he died from unintended consequences, according to Welsh.

“I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through,” Welsh said to Easton’s loved ones, adding that she blamed his tragic death on “the foolishness of youth,” the Independent reports.

Those who knew Easton took to social media to express their grief, and described the man as “always smiling” with a “golden heart.”

“Missing you brother,” Jack Robinson posted to the man’s Facebook page, along with a broken heart emoji.