Close call for baby after man fires rifle inside apartment

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - The Charleston Police Department says a 41-year-old man was arrested after he fired a rifle in the direction of a bedroom where a baby was sleeping.

Investigators charged Jerome Gendron Donald with unlawful conduct toward a child.

Police responded to an apartment on Rice Drive for a report of gun shots fired Thursday night. The witness, Gendron's wife, told police that her husband had fired one shot from a rifle while inside the apartment.

According to the witness she and Gendron had been arguing for the past several days about their "alcohol consumption."

The woman said during one of the arguments, Gendron said he was going to harm himself. Police say the witness then found Gendron sitting on the couch with a rifle and several bullets on a coffee table.

An incident report states after Gendron loaded a bullet into the rifle, he fired one shot into the ceiling. The witness said she then ran upstairs to check on her baby who was sleeping in the bedroom upstairs.

Investigators say the bullet was fired towards the baby's room. No injuries were reported.

Gendron was locked up at the Charleston County Detention Center.

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