A simple laser-assisted method to transform metallic Zn to a ZnO-based random lasing medium is reported. The method uses Nd⁺³ laser-induced air breakdown to treat the surface of a Zn target in oxygen atmosphere, and thus produce self-organized nanoparticles (tubes, needles etc.) over nearby area. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra of the nanoparticles exhibit the emission band at 395 nm with semi-regular narrow spikes (<1 nm) with low threshold and non-linear growth with power greater 2 at photo excitation increase, which is typical for multi-mode lasing. Estimation of electron-hole pair concentration and temperature dependence of the average lasing energy prove that the lasing is originated from a scattering of free electrons on electron-hole pairs correlated. It was shown that self-organized nanoparticles exhibited better conditions for the lasing through stronger light scattering and guiding.