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A Manahawkin man is facing criminal charges after he is alleged to have shot his teenage daughter while cleaning his gun.
According to a statement from prosecutors, Edgar Baerga, 47, of Stafford Township, was charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a minor in connection with an incident that occurred in Stafford Township on Saturday.
According to a police report, the incident occurred at sometime before 2 p.m., when Stafford Township police officers were called to Southern Ocean Medical Center in response to a 911 call regarding a 13-year-old female with a gunshot wound to the right side of her torso.
An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Stafford Township Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, found that while Baerga was cleaning his firearm at his residence in Stafford, “the firearm discharged and a round struck his 13-year-old daughter,” the statement said.
Baerga then drove his daughter to the hospital before contacting the police. The girl was later transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where she is listed in stable condition. Baerga was charged, and served with the charges via summons pending future appearances in Ocean County Superior Court. He was not taken into custody.
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