An Oak Harbor man faces more than three years in prison after shooting another driver in the hand following a minor accident and a mid-road confrontation.

A jury in Island County Superior Court recently found 52-year-old James R. Lake guilty of assault in the second degree with a firearms enhancement, which adds an automatic three years to the sentence. He is set to be sentenced on July 11 and will face 39 to 45 months in prison.

On the night of Nov. 15 of last year, a deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office was driving on Highway 20 while transporting a suspect in an unrelated case when she saw two cars speeding ahead of her. She caught up with the cars and flashed her lights to warn them. Soon afterward, the two cars stopped in the middle of the highway near the intersection with Monroe Landing Road, the deputy wrote in her report.

The driver of the front vehicle got out and started walking toward the other car, which was driven by Lake. Lake fired out of the window, striking the man in the hand, and then drove off.

After radioing for help and checking on the victim, the deputy chased down Lake and pulled him over. Lake told the deputy the other car had cut him off and he feared for his life when the car stopped in front of him and the driver walked toward him. Lake, who is right handed, said he fired out the window with his left hand to warn the other man, the deputy wrote.

The gunshot put a hole in the center of the victim’s hand and severely mangled his pinky finger. The man said he was trying to contact Lake about a fender bender when he was shot.

While the deputy’s report describes shooting as a road rage incident, both drivers testified in court that they weren’t actually angry, according to the prosecutor’s office.