Nathaniel P. Webb II, 43, charged with improper discharge of a weapon into a habitation and having weapons under disability.

CANTON

Police say a convicted felon was cleaning his gun at home in one of the city’s largest apartment complexes late Tuesday night when the gun went off, striking a woman in another apartment in the chest.

They arrested Nathaniel P. Webb II, 43, who lives in the Skyline Terrace apartment complex at 928 Alan Page Dr. SE, Apt. 7, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday on felony charges of improper discharge of a weapon into a habitation and having weapons under disability, Stark County Jail records said.

Stark County court records show he went to prison in 2001 for felonious assault, failure to comply with police and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

He is accused of shooting his downstairs neighbor accidentally, according to the jail records.

Lt. James Cole of the police department’s patrol division said a man called police late Tuesday night saying that he heard a loud bang and then hung up on dispatchers several times. When police went to investigate, they found a bullet had come through the ceiling from Apartment 7 into Apartment 3.

Police found the 53-year-old woman who lives there with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Cole said the bullet apparently traveled down into her abdomen. She was taken to Aultman Hospital where, during surgery, the bullet was removed from her stomach, he said.

Police believe the bullet came from a 9mm handgun that Webb was cleaning when it accidentally discharged. Investigators later found the point where the bullet had gone through Webb’s floor and then the woman’s ceiling before striking her, Cole said.

Although the woman’s condition was not available early Wednesday, she was in stable condition when officers left the hospital after the surgery, the lieutenant said.

Webb remained in the jail early Wednesday, held in lieu of $50,000 bond pending a Canton Municipal Court hearing.

Reach Lori at 330-580-8309 or lori.monsewicz@cantonrep.com

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