AUSTINTOWN — A 24-year-old township man was arrested shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, after police received reports of shots being fired from inside of his Pointview Avenue apartment.

Jonathan M. Gabrelcik, 2009 Pointview Ave., faces charges of obstructing official business, using a weapon while intoxicated and four counts of child endangering.

Five children were in the apartment, according to a police report.

Gabrelcik was walking down the stairs with a trash bag as officers were walking up the stairs during their investigation of shots fired, according to a police report. When asked to get on the ground, Gabrelcik refused, so he was taken to the ground by officers.

During a search of his apartment, officers found a 9 mm handgun in a closet and three 9 mm shell casings in various locations around the house, according to a police report.

A woman in the apartment, identified as his girlfriend, told officers they had been arguing when she went into a bedroom with two children. Three other children were sleeping on a couch.

While inside the bedroom, the woman described hearing gunshots, according to a police report. When she attempted to leave, Gabrelcik would not allow her to leave, the report states.

Gabrelcik, according to police reports, admitted firing the weapon. He noted, however, that it was an accident.

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