Man's stray bullet hits neighbor's home

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A North Tonawanda woman was surprised to find a bullet had been shot into her home on Friday.

It appears the shooting was an accident. The gun that went off belongs to the woman's next-door neighbor, who told police he used to work for the Erie County Sheriff's Office. No one was hurt, but he is now facing charges.

The bullet went through the man's kitchen window and into the woman's home, through a wall and ended up in her dining room.

North Tonawanda Police Chief Randy Szukala said, "The lady there was in the kitchen. She heard something, and then saw that her china cabinet had been broken. Glass was shattered. There's only one direction that bullet could've come from. That would've been the neighbor's house."

Officers tried for 45 minutes to make contact with the next-door neighbors. They blocked off the street and cautioned residents to stay in their homes.

The neighbor, 64-year-old Michael Stafford, ultimately told police he was cleaning his .45 Glock, when it accidentally went off.

"It appears that he was just cleaning his gun in his kitchen, and the gun discharged," Chief Szukala said.

A .45 Glock is a powerful weapon, says Szukala. In fact, a stud in the wall may have saved Stafford's neighbor. If the bullet hadn't hit it, and changed direction, it could have continued into her kitchen where she was standing.

"It went through his kitchen window, through the siding, through the sheathing on the house, through the drywall and lodged in a china cabinet that was probably 12 feet away from that wall that it originally entered," Chief Szukala said.

Stafford is being charged with felony reckless endangerment.

Chief Szukala explained, "Part of gun ownership is, check your gun to make sure it's unloaded, then check it again. And don't ever point it in a direction, at any time, unless you have the intention to strike that target."

Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard wasn't immediately able to confirm if Stafford worked for the sheriff's office.

The whole situation can be a lesson, Szukala says, in gun safety 101.