A Missouri man is being charged after a January shooting that left his friend in Falls Township with a wound to the knee.

Shamir Wilmer Canto, 25, of Warrensburg, Missouri, was charged via summons recently with simple assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment, according to court papers.

Falls Township police said that on Friday, January 27 at 8:27 p.m. officers were called to Vitaloak Lane in Levittown for a report of a man suffering a gunshot wound.

Responding officers found a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his left knee, police said.

As the 26-year-old man was being taken to the hospital for treatment in an ambulance, he told an officer he was shot by Canto while the 25-year-old man was cleaning a handgun in the family room. The injured man was sitting on the couch and playing video games leading up to the incident. Unexpectedly, the gun went off and a bullet struck him, police said.

An officer found a pool of blood inside the home near the couch, police said.

Canto “explained to me that he accidentally shot the victim and thought the gun was [not loaded],” the investigating officer wrote in court papers.

Canto said “he pulled the slide back on the firearm and did not see a round in the chamber. He then went to disassemble the gun and take the slide off when the gun went off, striking the victim,” according to police.

The gun used was a tan and black Springfield XDM 9mm. It belonged to the owner of the home, police said.

Police said they recovered a spent shell casing between two couch cushions.

The injured man survived the gunshot wound.

In their court filing, police said Canto “negligently” caused the injury and endangered several people in the house.

Correction: The gun was a Springfield XDM 9mm, not a .9mm.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.

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