Uniontown man pleads guilty to federal firearms charges
A Uniontown man who accidentally shot himself while not being legally permitted to have a firearm has pleaded guilty to gun charges in federal court.
Juan Washington, 41, entered the plea to one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon on Monday before US District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.
According to federal prosecutors, on Dec. 30, 2019, Washington left a bar in Uniontown after midnight and then accidentally shot himself in the leg outside a nearby Family Dollar store.
After shooting himself, Washington limped across the street where he put the gun and magazine on the retaining wall next to the sidewalk in front of a home; he then limped back across the street in front of the bar where he called for help.
Washington initially told police that robbers shot him, and said he took the gun and fired back, but later admitted that he shot himself by accident.
Police followed the trail of blood from the front of the bar to the retaining wall where they found the gun, and then to the Family Dollar where they found the spent shell casing.
Washington’s DNA was the only DNA found inside the gun barrel, gun muzzle and spent shell casing as well as portions of the gun, prosecutors said.
Washington had multiple felony convictions for receiving stolen property in 2006 and drug trafficking in 1999 that precluded him possessing a firearm.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced at 11 a.m. Jan. 31 and could face a maximum of 10 years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 or both.
Washington is currently free on $10,000 unsecured bond.