SHEBOYGAN - A Sheboygan man was charged Tuesday with endangering safety through the negligent operation or handling of a dangerous weapon, a misdemeanor.

Police responded to the apartment of Joshua S. Hert, 35, in the 600 block of St. Clair Avenue last week after a call regarding a weapons offense.

According to the criminal complaint, the caller said she heard a loud bang and found a bullet on her dresser. The bullet had come through the wall from her neighbor's apartment, officers found. The bullet went through a lava lamp in the caller's apartment and lodged itself in another lamp.

When officers were unable to make contact with someone at the apartment from which the bullet originated, they entered the apartment and found a hole in the bedroom wall and a gun in the same room.

Officers identified the tenant as Hert and called him. Hert told them he was cleaning his gun when it went off, the complaint said.

Hert is scheduled for an initial appearance April 29.

The maximum penalty for the charge is a fine of up to $10,000 and up to nine months of imprisonment.

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Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana