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SINGAPORE – Intrigued by the operation of a Nerf gun, a plastic toy that shoots foam projectiles, a 64-year-old sheet metal worker made several metal air guns capable of launching 6mm steel ball bearings.
To test the range of his air rifle, Lee Keng Hee fired headings from his Jurong West home, initially into the trees.
After building a third more powerful weapon, Lee took aim at neighboring blocks, breaking the windows of some units.
On Wednesday (December 16), Lee was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail and a $ 2,000 fine for fabricating an arm without a license and firing the metal ball bearings into residential blocks.
Two other related charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Assistant District Attorney Regina Lim described the air pistol that Lee made and fired at floors as inherently dangerous.
He said that the ball bearings were able to break glass over 77 meters away and that Lee had “a high degree of persistence,” and spent 10 months making various weapons.
The DPP noted that Lee fired more than 200 ball bearings with his air pistols.
Lee’s attorney, Mr. Favian Kang, argued that his client is sorry and that he “made the restitution voluntarily (and was not) requested.”
He added that Lee sold his late mother’s jewelry to make a restitution.
The court heard that Lee had come across a Nerf gun in 2017 and began studying its mechanism.
He decided to make a BB gun from scratch by watching videos on YouTube and collecting scrap metal from his workplace.
While completing his first two air pistols in 2018, Lee purchased 100 6mm steel ball bearings and 100 8mm steel ball bearings to test at his home.
In October 2018, he completed a third more powerful air pistol.
According to court documents, Lee wanted it to have better power and consistency compared to the first two.
He built it with a larger air chamber, so he could fire more ball bearings with each pump filled with the air chamber.
Lee shot trees and neighboring Housing Board blocks outside his eighth-floor apartment, usually out of sight of his wife and son who live with him.
From these tests, he was satisfied that the third air rifle was able to consistently fire the 6mm ball bearings against the concrete walls of Block 453 Jurong West Street 42, which is across from where he lives.
He continued to use the block for target practice until April 2019.
On April 3, 2019, a resident called police around 8 p.m. and said he heard a creaking noise before discovering that his bedroom window was broken.
Lee was eventually arrested after police found a BB gun in his home.
The damaged floors were in line of sight from Lee’s flat.
Tests conducted by authorities found that the ball bearings fired by the airgun had enough power to cause non-lethal injuries if pointed at a person.
The speed of the ball bearing on impact was found to be fast enough to break a window glass.
For making or selling weapons, a criminal can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to $ 10,000.
For committing a reckless act, a criminal can face jail time of up to six months or a fine of up to $ 2,500, or both.
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