A maintenance worker at the Parkhurst Estates mobile home park in Oxford Township accidentally shot himself in the hand with a gun he found while mowing the lawn May 21.
The 51-year-old Oxford man’s wound, which was not life-threatening, was treated by Oxford firefighters and he was transported to POH Regional Medical Center.
Oakland County Sheriff’s investigators are speculating the gun could be the weapon that was used to shoot Oxford resident Jordayna Barrett in October of last year.
According to the sheriff’s report, the maintenance worker was cutting the grass in the area of Danwood and Danville when he saw what appeared to be a toy handgun. He nearly ran over it.
He stopped, picked it up and while he was inspecting it, the gun discharged, sending a bullet through his left hand.
The handgun was a two-shot, Derringer-type .38-caliber Special. Investigators were unable to determine the make and model due to corrosion.
Sheriff’s investigators indicated the gun’s caliber, type and condition are ‘consistent? with the one Keyon Timmons used to shoot Barrett, who was 5 years old at the time, in the Lake Villa Manufactured Home Community.
A jury convicted Timmons of assault with intent to murder, along with other numerous charges, in February.
Shell casings found in both of the gun’s chambers had firing pin impressions in them, meaning it had been shot prior to the maintenance worker’s accident.
Timmons had fired a single shot at Barrett before fleeing. No spent casing was ever recovered at the scene, which is consistent with the type of gun the maintenance worker found.
When Timmons was arrested in the parking lot of the K-mart in Orion, he did not have a gun on him or inside his vehicle. Sheriff’s deputies and K-9 units searched for the Timmons? gun, but never recovered it.
The handgun was sent to the county’s crime lab for analysis.
? Editor C.J. Carnacchio