By Police1 Staff
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A man who tried to kill a Maryland officer with a homemade miniature shotgun has been found guilty.
The Washington Post reports that Jonathan Hemming, 54, was convicted for attempting to kill Montgomery County Police Detective Donnie Oaks. Hemming faces a possible life sentence.
On May 18, 2016, Hemming was driving his wife to a doctor’s appointment when officers approached him in a parking lot. Hemming was wanted on drug charges and the detective wanted to question him in an unrelated case.
A struggle ensued before Hemming raised what appeared to be an 8-inch long black pipe and aimed it at Oaks’ face as he began slapping one end of it. The pipe turned out to be an operable, loaded, miniature 12-gauge shotgun.
The device was designed to fire by piercing the ammunition via a small opening in the back which could be jabbed with a tool like a screwdriver. Police found an additional, smaller homemade shotgun in Hemming’s pocket. Neither gun ended up firing at the detective.
Hemming testified that he made both of the weapons in “maybe 10 minutes” after seeing examples of homemade shotguns on the Internet. He alleged that he had the guns because he and his ill wife had a suicide pact if she received bad news from the doctor.
Hemming was also convicted of other charges, including first-degree assault of another officer.