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Juniata man accused of firing gun

Misfire from new AR-15 rifle leads to charges

From Mirror staff reports

A Juniata man faces charges after police say he accidentally fired off a round from his new AR-15 rifle.

Brent M. Gehret, 20, of 618 N. Sixth Ave., told police he had just bought an AR-15 rifle and was “familiarizing himself with the operation of the gun when it accidentally went off,” Altoona police noted in charges filed last week.

The incident happened in August when police were called to the 600 block of North Sixth Avenue for a report of a damaged car. The owner of the car had discovered a bullet hole in the roof of his Ford Edge. The bullet had torn through the head liner in the interior and a small piece of copper and lead shavings from what appeared to be fragments of a bullet were found.

One of the responding officers spotted what ap­peared to be a hole in the siding of Gehret’s home, near the attic, and and the trajectory between the hole in the house and the roof of the car seemed to line up.

When officers made contact with Gehret, he told them about accidentally firing the rifle and showed them where the .223-caliber round had gone through the wall and exited the house.

Police said the damage to the car was estimated at $4,248.78.

Gehret is charged with Altoona police with misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and criminal mischief as well as violating the city’s ordinance prohibiting the firing of a gun within the city limits.

A preliminary hearing is slated for Jan. 16 at Central Court.

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