BELLE VERNON (KDKA) — A Fayette County man is facing charges after he accidentally fired a high-powered rifle into his neighbor’s home narrowly missing the people inside.

The man had just gotten the gun and was showing it to a friend when the shot went off.

Southwest Regional Police Chief John Hartman showed KDKA-TV the hunting rifle that was involved in the shooting.

Jeremy Staley, 28, of Newell, was showing the rifle to a friend inside of his Miller Street home and didn’t realize there was a round inside when he pulled the trigger.

The bullet went through the wall of Staley’s kitchen, across his yard and into his neighbor’s home.

It nicked a banister, went through an island in the kitchen and ultimately landed in a kitchen baseboard.

The neighbor’s grandchildren were watching “SpongeBob SquarePants” at the time and one of the boys had walked past the banister that was struck just minutes before.

Staley was arraigned this week on charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.

Police say Staley’s own children were in the room when the shot went off. He’d been drinking in the hours before and he should have been paying closer attention to where the gun was pointed when he was handling it.

That’s why they decided to file charges.

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