Skip navigation

They taught us in shop class: Use the right tool

Wash. state man uses shotgun to loosen lug nut; effort does not go well

Video: Weird news
Panda pair's great escape!
Nov. 10: A pair of pandas seem to plan their escape as one panda distracts a zookeeper while the other slips through their enclosure's door. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown has the story.

Slideshow
Image: World's stretchiest skin
  Guinness World Records
See the biggest rubber band ball, oldest bungee jumper, longest ear hair and much more.

more photos

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 3:44 p.m. ET Nov. 12, 2007

SOUTHWORTH, Wash. - A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, sheriff's deputies said.

The 66-year-old man had been repairing a Lincoln Continental for two weeks at his home in Kitsap County northwest of Southworth, about 10 miles southwest of Seattle, and had gotten all but one of the lug nuts off the right rear wheel by Saturday afternoon, Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said.

"He's bound and determined to get that lug nut off," Wilson said.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

From about arm's length, the man fired the shotgun at the wheel and was "peppered" in both legs with buckshot and debris, with some injuries as high as his chin, according to a sheriff's office report.

"Nobody else was there, and he wasn't intoxicated," Wilson said.

The man was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with injuries Wilson described as severe but not life-threatening.

The deputies did not take a statement from the man beyond what they were able to gather while he was being treated by medics, The Kitsap Sun reported on its Web site.

"I don't think he was in any condition to say anything," Wilson said, according to The Sun. "The pain was so severe, and the shock."

It was not immediately clear whether the shotgun blast loosened the lug nut.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sponsored LinksGet listed here
Online College Courses
Boost your career with an online Degree. Pick from Leading Colleges!
www.EarnMyDegree.com

Sponsored links

Resource guide