Manny Garrido liked to tinker. But the 23-year-old may have tinkered one too many times when
he built his own handgun — and promptly shot himself in the leg with it.
Bored, broke and unable to drive on a license suspended after a car crash, Garrido passed time building things. Resources weren't hard to find in his father's Lake Worth backyard, where you could often hear the buzz of impact wrenches and low growl of classic cars, like dad's '87 'Vette or '84 Trans-Am.
But it was his last mechanical project that landed him in jail.
Garrido decided he needed to build a gun for protection: a one-round .40-caliber firearm made from the brass tube assembly of an air conditioner gauge, a large nut, springs and a screwdriver.
He kept the gun in his pocket. And on March 29, it went off, sending the single slug into his leg.
The wound later served as evidence for deputies, who arrested Garrido on Sunday on charges of possession of ammunition or firearms by a felon. In April 2011, Garrido pleaded guilty to felony drug charges after an incident in which authorities found prescription pills in his pocket.
Shortly after Garrido rolled into Emergency Room 1 of the JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, a staffer called police to report a shooting victim.
[...]
"I came home and found him limping in the backyard," said Manny Pinho, Garrido's father. "He didn't want to go to the hospital — he was afraid he'd get in trouble — but I made him go."
[...]
X-ray images showed the bullet lodged in Garrido's leg, near the ankle.
Detectives later learned that Garrido pleaded guilty to felony charges. Florida Law revokes the rights of convicted felons to buy guns or ammunition.
[...]
Garrido's father said his son found solace in fashioning the gun, just as he did building and tearing apart engines, pulling them out of the mouths of cars with chains connected to rafters of the garage.
"He was always out there building something," Pinho said. "He never went out."
[...]
"Who hasn't tried to building a sling shot or bow and arrow in their lives?" Pinho said. "It was an experiment that went wrong."
As of Monday, Garrido remained the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bond.
"I don't believe I should have to pay to get him out," Pinho said. "He didn't hurt anyone."
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