GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man faces a felony safe storage violation after police say a teen got his hands on a gun and accidentally shot himself in Grand Rapids Tuesday.

Melvin Tommy-Shawn-Kelly House has been charged with a safe storage violation causing injury, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said Wednesday. It’s punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine up to $5,000.

The shooting happened Tuesday morning on Sherman Street SE near Benjamin Avenue. The Grand Rapids Police Department previously said the 15-year-old boy, a family member of House, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder but was expected to be OK.

“Any slight bit of difference in the direction that the bullet traveled, and we could’ve been having a very different, very sad, tragic conversation,” GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom told reporters Tuesday.

House also faces drug charges including possession of and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The possession charge is a four-year felony and the intent to deliver charge is a 20-year felony.

House is the second person from Grand Rapids in less than three weeks to face a safe storage charge after a child was injured in a shooting. On Oct. 26, a 2-year-old got hold of a gun at his home and shot himself in the hand. The toddler’s father Nakobi Thomas was charged with a safe storage violation and is expected back in court later this week for a hearing. Like House, Thomas also faces drug charges.

Michigan’s safe storage law took effect in February, requiring gun owners to keep firearms in a locked storage box or container when it is “reasonably known that a minor is or is likely to be present on the premises.” The University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention says similar “child access prevention laws” in 26 states are leading to a decline in the number of unintentional firearm deaths of kids 15 and younger, as well as fewer gun-related suicides and homicides among youths.

“There’s the need to try to hold someone, hold the adults, accountable because generally the kids should not have had access to those guns. A safe gun owner should put them away and store them appropriately,” Prosecutor Becker told News 8 Wednesday.

Before Michigan enacted its law, Becker used other criminal charges in cases when a child got hold of a gun and caused harm.

“A couple years ago, we had to voluntary manslaughter charge for a father who left a (gun in his) bedside table. One of his grandchildren got a hold of it and shot one of their friends that was visiting. And it was an involuntary manslaughter charge,” he recalled. “It’s a horrific case for anyone involved. We have a dead child and a kid who actually did the shooting who doesn’t know any better.”

There are a number of safe storage tools — cable locks, trigger locks, gun cases, safes and lock boxes — and a number of groups and programs that give them away. For example, you can walk into Grand Rapids police headquarters downtown and ask for a free gun lock through Project Child Safe.

“We don’t want any families to go through what these other families are going through. We don’t want a kid that will have that hang over his head for the rest of his life. You know, 5,6,7, years old or 8, 10, whatever it is, and you kill somebody or hurt somebody, that sticks with you,” Becker said. “So ideally, we would not want to have to charge you because everybody understands that we are going to lock the guns up and store them safely so minors don’t get access.”