Shooting on Main Street turns out to be self-inflicted gunshot wound

A shooting on Main Street earlier this month was deemed a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Initial news reports had indicated that the shooting involved multiple people.

However, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office investigation of the Aug. 16 incident determined that the gunshot victim, William Robert Swearingin, had shot himself. 

According to a statement emailed to The Waltham Times by the DA’s chief of administration Meghan Kelly, Swearingin had gone to a Rich Street home with a ghost gun and after a verbal altercation “allegedly accidentally shot himself.” He was transported to the hospital, where he was found to be in possession of methamphetamine.

Swearingin, who is still hospitalized, has been charged with possession of an untraceable firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, trafficking methamphetamine, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license and assault with a dangerous weapon.

 Swearingin will face a detention hearing on Sept. 1.