NEWTON

— A 28-old-year old Vernon man has pleaded guilty to accidentally shooting a friend at a party, thinking that his gun was empty, the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Kevin Stangl was hosting a party in the woods near Pleasant Valley Lake in Hardyston when he was “joking with friends” and pointed his gun at the victim’s shoulder, and pulled the trigger, the prosecutor’s office said.

The incident occurred in the early morning of June 1 and was reported to authorities after the victim went to Saint Clare’s Hospital in Sussex Borough for treatment, police have said.

Stangl pleaded guilty on Aug. 11 to second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. He faces up to 10 years in state prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 17.

Stangl was released from the county jail on June 3 after posting $40,000 bail, a jail spokesman said.

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