October 4th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

A Grantsville man who accidentally shot a woman in the backside with a stolen handgun was sentenced on charges of fourth-degree burglary and reckless endangerment recently in Garrett County Circuit Court. The Cumberland Times News reports Zachary Alexander Merrill, 22, will serve three years in the Division of Correction on the burglary charge. Two years of the sentence was suspended, said Lisa Thayer Welch, state's attorney. Related charges were dismissed upon the plea. 

For the reckless endangerment charge, Merrill was sentenced to five years in the Division of Correction to run concurrently with all of the sentence suspended except for the time served awaiting trial. He will be on probation upon his release. 

Merrill was arrested and charged in March after police and emergency medical providers responded to his residence for what was originally reported as a self-inflicted rifle wound by a female. 

Investigation by Maryland State Police determined that Merrill had stolen a handgun from a nearby residence and, while pointing it in the direction of the victim, discharged a round that struck the victim in the hip and buttocks area, Welch said.