An Ohio man accidentally fired a shotgun Thursday afternoon in his apartment, wounding two women praying in the room below.

The women were attending a prayer service with three others shortly before 4:30 p.m. in the downstairs apartment of a Marion duplex when buckshot blasted through the ceiling.

An elderly woman was struck in the right leg, right forearm, and cheek, police said, and a middle-aged woman was struck in the right leg.

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Authorities charged 59-year-old Terry Thacker, who lives in the second-story apartment, with two counts of negligent assault, although he was not arrested.

Both women were taken to Marion General Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

[Image: A smoking 12 bore shotgun having ejected spent a cartridge by Max Earey via Shutterstock]