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Airborne gun on the highway embeds in driver's front bumper

By Ben Hooper
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May 25 (UPI) -- A driver who spotted a "black object" flying through the air on a Washington highway stopped 18 miles later and found a handgun embedded in his bumper.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Guy Gill said the man was driving Wednesday on Interstate 5, near Lakewood, when he saw the object fly through the air and appear to strike his bumper.

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The man told troopers he didn't think the object had struck his bumper very hard and no warning lights came on, so he decided not to stop and investigate.

Gill said the man stopped at an Olympia gas station about 18 miles later and discovered the handgun lodged barrel-first in his front bumper.

"The driver called 911 and he was just kind of like everyone else saying, 'This is so strange, but I believe I struck a firearm and it's still stuck in the front of my vehicle,'" Gill told KOMO-TV.

He said it was one of the strangest things he's seen in his 23 years on the job.

"Well...this is a first!" Gill wrote in tweeting photos of the gun embedded in the bumper. "Driver saw a small 'black object' in the air while driving on I-5 and it struck the front of his car. "He drove about 18 miles, stopped for gas, and found this."

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Gill said the gun was turned over to Lakewood police. Investigators are looking into whether the weapon was used in a 5 p.m. shooting at Harry Todd Park in Lakewood. No one was injured in the shooting.

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