Libertyville firefighters assisting  in a North Chicago police investigation have been searching for a gun in the Des Plaines River Wednesday afternoon, according to officials.

“Someone had thrown a weapon into the river,”  Libertyville Fire Inspector John Rasmussen said.

Firefighters began searching the river near Ashbury Lane and Route 176 around 12: 30 p.m., said Assistant Chief Ken Komers.  As of 3 p.m. no weapon had been found as of 3 .p.m.,  he said.

Fire officials wouldn’t comment on the type of weapon they were looking. North Chicago police said a man who  accidentally shot himself in the hand last week got rid of the weapon by dumping it in the river. The man was not seriously injured, but investigators were searching for the weapon to make sure no one else picks it up.