An Andreas man faces criminal charges after a gun he was handling discharged, and the bullet struck his 3-year-old son Sunday afternoon.

Jeremy Schlier, 31, of Winter Mountain Road, was charged with recklessly endangering another person and person not to possess or use a firearm. He is lodged in the Schuylkill County prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

According to arrest papers, West Penn Township police arrived at the home and found a woman with two little girls in the driveway, and a man, later identified as Schlier walking, holding a child with some kind of material covering a wound.

The officer asked what happened, and Schlier said the gun fell over and went off. The officer asked where the gun was, and he replied it was in the basement, court papers said.

The officer sat Schlier down with the child and got a medical bag from the police vehicle to tend to the child. The boy had an entry wound, but no exit wound, and it wasn’t bleeding that much, the officer observed.

The officer taped a gauze pad to the boy’s arm and began gathering information, when the mother arrived home and wanted to know what happened, court papers said.

The mother went with the boy in the ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, and the child is now in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to a Facebook post.

Schlier was taken into custody, and told police that he had gone to the basement to get his drink and cigarettes, and bumped the .22-caliber rifle that was leaning against the couch and it slid to the floor, court papers said.

Schlier told police that he knew he was on probation and decided to call his uncle to take the gun. Schlier said he didn’t check the gun, and did not know whether or not it was loaded, court papers said.

Schlier exited the basement with the rifle and started walking up the hill, when he remembered his cigarettes, court papers said. He moved the gun to his left hand and set the gun down on a playhouse, court papers said.

When Schlier set the gun down, he said he must have bumped the trigger and the gun went off, court papers said. His son was running back and forth at the top of the driveway, and was struck by the bullet, court papers said.

Schlier is on probation and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.