COMPTON : Crude Gun Made From Toy Goes Off; Youth Hurt
A 15-year-old Compton boy was injured Friday after he attempted to create a real gun out of a water pistol and the contraption fired.
Police said the teen-ager took apart a plastic water gun and inserted a metal rod into the barrel, made a crude firing pin and loaded a .38-caliber bullet into the pistol. When he pulled the trigger, the metal rod flew out of the gun, striking him in the cheek, said Compton police investigator Rickey Petty.
Police said they could not remember any other case of someone trying to convert a toy gun to fire real bullets.
The youth, who was not identified, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was treated and released, Petty said.
The teen-ager would not tell police officers why he was trying to make a real gun, but he apparently was not aiming at anyone when he fired the device outside his home on Compton’s west side, Petty said.
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