Wounded man charged with gun violations

SHARON, Pa. — A city man faces charges after allegedly shooting himself and then contending he was shot by someone else.

City police said they were called to Sharon Regional Health System’s hospital at 2:45 a.m. Monday for a gunshot victim. Police said Ronald Pickard Jr., 21, of Heinz Road, told them he was shot by a black man on Division Street.

Police said they later learned that Pickard shot himself in the left bicep while on the 300 block of East Connelly Boulevard outside an apartment complex. Police said the wound is not life-threatening, but Pickard remained hospitalized late Tuesday.

They intend to charge Pickard when he is released with being a former felon prohibited from carrying a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, recklessly endangering another person and filing a false police report.

Police said the man who brought Pickard to the hospital, Jeremy Schmidt, has been arrested on a parole detainer. Schmidt, 19, of Sherman Avenue, was charged with filing a false police report after corroborating Pickard’s initial story when they arrived at the hospital.