A judge has spared prison for a man who was among several people firing guns they thought were unloaded in a Brooklyn Park home when his firearm went off and killed his best friend.

Anwar Hussein Mohamed, 20, of Brooklyn Park was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail and had a four-year term set aside after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of Nebil Ahmed Omer on Oct. 12.

Along with jail time, Judge Sarah Hudleston ordered Mohamed to complete 120 hours of community service that focuses on firearms safety.

“The court found Mr. Mohamed to be particularly amenable to probation ... due to several factors including his early acceptance of responsibility, strong community support, his immediate and consistent remorse, and a nonexistent record,” read a statement from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which supported the sentence.

“This tragic accident took Nebil’s life and forever changed the lives of his loved ones, including his best friend, Anwar Mohamed,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “Firearms are incredibly dangerous when handled unsafely or by individuals without proper training and experience, and we must use all the tools available to avoid incidents like this in the future.”

Moriarty’s statement was accompanied by a list of county libraries where free gun locks are available.

Included with the list was this caveat: “Do not bring firearms into libraries when picking up a free gun lock.”

According to the criminal complaint:

Police arrived at the home on the morning of Oct. 12 to see Omer lying dead. Police found a bullet that had traveled through the house and was lodged in a bedroom door. There was one bullet casing near a couch.

As they went through the home, police found five “very emotional” men gathered in a bedroom. Everyone was taken in for questioning. A witness began pounding the walls in the lobby of the police station screaming that “Anwar did it.”

That witness told police that everyone in the group were friends, and there were no problems or arguments. She said the house is normally filled with guns, and the group regularly dry fires them at each other playfully.

She said that after Mohamed fired the gun and saw Omer collapse, he was in a state of shock and made several comments including, “What am I going to do; my life is over.”

Investigators arrested Mohamed and another person after speaking with the witness. Mohamed was visibly shaking when police tried to interview him, but he declined to say anything at that point.

Police collected a Glock 9 mm gun from the scene. Analysis of the weapon determined it fired the bullet found at the home. Mohamed’s fingerprint was found on the gun.

Jeff Day of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.