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Firearm-enhanced mole trap shoots Randle man

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An accident with a homemade mole trap fashioned from part of a 12-gauge shotgun injured a Randle resident yesterday when it shot him in the leg.

Aid and deputies were called about 3:40 p.m. to the man’s home on the 10,000 block of U.S. Highway 12.

The 59-year-old man said he had caught a mole with the trap in his front yard and was setting it up over a hole in his backyard when it tipped over on the slope and discharged, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The device consisted of a shotgun barrel mounted on a metal plate and used a spring activation system with 12-gauge shells, according to the sheriff’s office.

The man was able to go inside his home and call 911, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

He was transported to  Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The injury to his right knee was not life threatening, but potentially disabling, Brown said.