Jun 6, 2015 1 min read

ALTOONA (AP) – Authorities have filed charges a man in the discharge of a gun in a central Pennsylvania cathedral during a crowded Easter vigil Mass two months ago.

Twenty-nine-year-old Matthew Crawford of Altoona is charged in Blair County with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm within city limits.

Crawford had a permit for the weapon, and he said the gun discharged accidentally in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on April 4.

But authorities said the weapon wasn’t in a holster, its four safeties weren’t on, there was a bullet in the chamber and a drop test indicated that the gun couldn’t have discharged accidentally.

Defense attorney Steven Passarello told The (Altoona) Mirror that the charges were expected and prosecutors haven’t demonstrated that his client’s conduct was “reckless.”