Uncle charged

Police: Gun safety lesson follows drinking, smoking

Shooting of 20-year-old blamed on all-night drinking and marijuana binge.

Police say an all-night drinking and pot binge led to a city man accidentally shooting his 20-year-old nephew in the leg.

The victim, whom police did not name, was in stable condition after having surgery at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

Watervliet police said the young man went to visit his uncle, Ryan M. Ziter, at his home on 23rd Street Friday, and the two allegedly spent about seven hours drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.

Early Saturday morning, police said Ziter then took two handguns out of a safe to show the nephew “how to safely take apart a handgun,” according to a police press release on the incident.

Ziter did not know there was a live round in the chamber of the .45 caliber handgun he was taking apart, Watervliet police said, and he allegedly shot his nephew in the lower leg.

The nephew arrived at an unnamed local hospital for treatment about 9 a.m. Saturday, at which time

hospital staff called police, Watervliet police said. The victim was then transferred to Albany Med.

Ziter was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony, and was released on bail after being arraigned.

A 2014 Times Union profile of the famed Bob’s Diner on 19th Street in Watervliet noted that Ryan Ziter helps run the restaurant with his father. A man who answered a phone number listed for Ryan Ziter hung up when a Times Union reporter identified themselves Sunday.