Charge laid in nail gun shooting at N.S. construction site

Nova Scotia RCMP have charged a 43-year-old man with criminal negligence causing bodily harm two weeks after a construction worker was shot with a nail gun in Pictou County in what he alleges was the culmination of racism and bullying by a colleague.

Shawn Wade Hynes of Trenton was arrested Sept. 27 and released on conditions to have no contact with the victim, RCMP said Friday in a news release.

A 21-year-old man was injured when he was struck in the back with a nail fired from a nail gun, police said.

"We were called while the victim was still in hospital and began our investigation from there," said Cpl. Jennifer Clarke.

The victim, Nhlanhla Dlamini, previously told CBC News he was at a worksite in Abercrombie when a co-worker accused him of working too slowly before purposely aiming an air-powered nail gun at him and firing.

Dlamini said his lung was punctured with a 3½-inch framing nail and required emergency surgery.

The shooting came after weeks of racially charged harassment by the same colleague, said Dlamini, who is black. 

A lawyer for Dlamini's employer, P.Q. Properties Ltd., has vigorously maintained the nail gun shooting was an accident, dismissing the police investigation as "ridiculous."

Hynes is scheduled to appear in Pictou provincial court on Dec. 21. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

There have been no charges laid against P.Q. Properties or its owner, said Clarke. 

"If we do receive information that would sort of spur more investigation we would certainly follow-up on that. But to date, this is the only charge we've laid."

She said the RCMP has been working with the Department of Labour during the investigation.

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