David Schuster

A felon is accused of having a firearm last weekend in Butler.

The defendant, David W. Schuster, 28, of Butler, is facing a June hearing on a felony charge of persons not to possess firearms.

Butler police said they got a 911 call shortly after midnight Saturday that Schuster was in possession of a long gun after he left an apartment on Hansen Avenue.

City officers and Butler Township police found Schuster on nearby Goldwood Avenue.

He was unarmed, police said, but he told an officer that he had discarded a gun, which apparently had a camouflage pattern, in a neighboring yard. Police searched several yards on South Ninth Avenue before they found a Mossburg pump-action shotgun.

The shotgun, which appeared to have been “haphazardly tossed” into the yard, had a camo pattern, police said. It was not loaded.

Schuster admitted that he had the shotgun when he left the apartment, as noted in the 911 call.

Police checked Schuster's criminal history and found that he has at least one prior felony, which, under state law, prohibits him for having any firearms, according to charging documents.

He was arrested and a subsequent search, police said, turned up suspected marijuana and two drug smoking pipes.

He was arraigned on the illegal gun possession charge as well as misdemeanor counts of possession of a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Schuster is free on his own recognizance. His preliminary hearing is set for June 22. Online court records did not list an attorney for him.