NEWS

Man faces prison after shooting self on South Street

Eric Lagatta
Reporter

ZANESVILLE — A 32-year-old man admitted Monday to shooting a gun in April in a stairwell of an apartment on South Street, wounding himself but no one else.

The Zanesville Police Department responded at 10:16 a.m. April 26 to the 600 block of Sixth Street, where they found Bruce A. Morgan sitting in a parking lot bleeding with a white powder around his nose, according to the Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office.

ZPD investigating shooting on South Street

Investigators uncovered a revolver in his apartment at 612 South St. and another gun just outside, Detective Tom Porter said. The walls of the building were riddled with bullet holes.

Morgan had reportedly run through the stairwell firing rounds from the gun and had accidentally shot himself in his right arm, Porter said. He was taken to the former Genesis Good Samaritan Hospital the night of incident and later released.

Investigators also reported finding found drugs in his possession. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation tested the gun and linked the DNA evidence to Morgan, Porter said.

He was booked at the county jail July 27 on a $250,000 bond days after he was indicted on three separate counts: improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation, a second-degree felony; a weapons charge, a third-degree felony; and cocaine possession, a fifth-degree felony.

The drug charge and firearm discharge count both contain gun specifications. The first count also has a repeat violent offender specification.

Prior felonies on Morgan’s record prohibit him from owning guns.

He will appear in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court at a later date to receive his sentence.

elagatta@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

740-450-6753

Twitter: @EricLagatta