Man charged in Westmoreland shopping center incident

State police have charged a Greensburg man in connection with an incident Wednesday in the parking lot of a Hempfield shopping plaza.

Roger E. Perrine, 33, was thought to be the victim of an alleged road rage incident, which subsequently touched off a manhunt for a male suspect purportedly carrying a gun.

Instead, Perrine was charged with simple assault and making terroristic threats, according to a complaint filed with District Judge Mark Mansour of Hempfield.

Trooper Isaac Lanham responded to a report of a dispute involving a gun in the parking lot at Gabriel Brothers Plaza on Route 30 at 2:45 p.m. When he arrived, Lanham ordered Justin Steininger, 24, of Greensburg, and another man, William Overs, at gunpoint to lie down on the pavement.

Steininger complied, but Overs fled into the woods, leading to a search involving aircraft, a police dog and officers armed with shotguns and assault rifles.

Lanham said he did not find a gun but that Perrine displayed a knife during in the incident.

Perrine told Lanham he had a "beef" with the man who was driving the car in which Steininger was a passenger. He said the driver made an obscene gesture toward him, according to a police affidavit.

Steininger and Perrine got into an argument in the parking lot,and Perrine took a knife from his back pocket and opened it, according to the affadavit. Perrine told police he carried the knife for protection and never intended to hurt Steininger.

Perrine claimed that Steininger removed a dark-colored pistol from his pocket during the dispute but that "gun" turned out to be a cell phone, according to Lanham.

When Lanham told Perrine he could not find the weapon, Perrine admitted he may have mistaken the phone for a gun in the confusion.

"Furthermore, he (Perrine) indicated that after discussing the incident with me he realizes that his actions caused the incident to escalate," Lanham wrote in the affidavit.

Perrine was issued a summons on the charges.