EVANS CITY — A Harmony man who accidentally fired a gun into the home of his neighbor of five years had his charges dismissed at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Jan. 21.

David Kok Lui, 55, was accused of firing a 9 mm pistol into a neighboring residence on Maple Glen Drive while he was unloading the gun on Nov. 22. The residence was occupied by two dogs at the time.

District Judge Amy Marcinkiewicz dismissed his charges of felony discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

Defense attorney Benjamin Levine argued the law states reckless endangerment involves a “conscious decision” to disregard safety. The charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure also includes “reckless” in the definition.

He presented case law for Commonwealth v. Murray, which he said included similar circumstances that resulted in the charges being dismissed. The sentence in that case was appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in December and the lower court’s ruling was overturned.

“He made a mistake, but that’s what it was, not a criminal act,” Levine said about his client.

Marcinkiewicz agreed with Levine’s assessment of the law and dismissed the charges. Lui apologized to the neighbor, Renee Spirk, and was ordered to pay her $60 for a counseling session stemming from the incident. Spirk said the emotional turmoil for her and her daughters may cause her to sell the home.

“Whatever it takes to make it right, we will make it right,” Lui said.

Assistant district attorney David Beichner called Spirk and Jackson Township Police officer Scott Longdon to testify.

Longdon testified he spoke with Lui after speaking with Spirk to ask what happened. Lui told him he was emptying his gun in an upstairs bedroom the prior night around 10:30 p.m. He said Lui took out the magazine, racked the slide and believed he saw a bullet fall to the bed. Afterward, he “dry-fired” the gun and a bullet shot through the bedroom wall.

Lui said he’s a veteran and a range safety officer certified with the National Rifle Association and Scouting America. It was the same procedure he frequently used to check that his guns were unloaded.

Longdon said the round passed through the bedroom wall and traveled about 30 feet before entering Spirk’s residence through an exterior wall. It traveled through two interior walls and landed in a powder room.

Spirk testified she was not home at the time of the incident, but her daughters were supposed to be staying at the residence. She was staying at another residence for the weekend while she was sick.

Spirk said the bullet left five holes in the walls of her home. She came home around 2:30 p.m. the following Monday to find the holes and eventually made it to the powder room and found the bullet. Her insurance company paid to repair the holes.

“Oh my gosh, I think there’s a bullet above my toilet,” Spirk testified she said to her friend on the phone.

Spirk said she didn’t know what had happened and feared someone may have been in her home. She then saw through a window a similar hole in the exterior of Lui’s wall and went to confirm it.

“I live in a nice neighborhood. I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Spirk said.

Spirk alleged a neighbor reported seeing Lui and his son between the homes assessing the damage the following morning around 9:30 a.m. Later, Spirk saw she had missed a call from Lui’s wife, but no voicemail was left.

Spirk said the neighbors were friendly with each other and had never had a problem.

Beichner argued Lui should have faced charges because he did not immediately contact Spirk and because of the danger the incident caused to the community.