By Associated Press
SOUTHWORTH, Wash. (AP) - A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, Kitsap County sheriff's deputies said.
The 66-year-old man had been repairing a Lincoln Continental for two weeks at his home northwest of Southworth and east of Port Orchard and had gotten all but one of the lug nuts off the right rear wheel before getting frustrated Saturday afternoon, Deputy Scott Wilson said.
"He's bound and determined to get that lug nut off," Wilson said.
From about arm's length the man fired the shotgun at the wheel and was "peppered" in both legs with 00 buckshot and other debris, with some injuries as high on his body as his chin, according to a sheriff's office report.
"Nobody else was there and he wasn't intoxicated," Wilson said.
South Kitsap Fire and Rescue personnel treated the man at the scene before he was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with injuries Wilson described as "severe but not life-threatening."
He said deputies were unable to get a full statement from the man, relying only on what they could learn while medics treated him at the scene.
"I don't think he was in any condition to say anything," Wilson said. "The pain was so severe, and the shock."
you beat me to it! I have seen a whole wheel just blown off with a shotgun - all five lug nuts let go! Must have worked cuz the car was speeding down the freeway... he just needed someone to drive by him while he did it.
