Man sentenced to prison on firearms plea in incident where child shot himself in finger
Jun. 3—EBENSBURG, Pa. — A Johnstown man was sentenced to state prison in Cambria County Court on Wednesday in connection with a 5-year-old boy finding a loaded handgun and shooting himself in the finger.
Melvin Nelson Jr., 38, entered a guilty plea to a felony count of firearms not to be carried without a license before Judge Patrick T. Kiniry on Wednesday and was sentenced to serve 18 to 36 months in a state correctional institute.
According to a criminal complaint, Nelson allegedly had the combination to a safe where a woman kept an unloaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol and unlocked the safe, removing the pistol, after she had left for work on Dec. 3, 2021
He then allegedly then left the house, leaving the then-loaded gun where three children could have access, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, the gun was discovered by a 5-year-old boy who then shot himself in the left index finger.
Nelson, who was at a neighbor's house, said he was unaware of the shooting until he saw an ambulance arrive. The child was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center on Franklin Street for surgery.
When the woman returned home, she found the gun on the bed with bloodstains on the comforter and bullet holes in the pillow and wall, the complaint said.
At the time of the incident, police said that Nelson could not legally possess a firearm after pleading guilty in 2006 to felony criminal trespass in Philadelphia.
