After a three-hour search Tuesday across the ridges and valleys of rural Clinton, Saltlick Township, state police apprehended two adult males and two teenagers wanted for allegedly shooting at a tow truck and threatening its owner.
While at the scene of the shooting, state police said they recovered a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban stolen from Mt. Pleasant. One of the suspects, Erin Edward Burnsworth, 18, was charged by state police at Uniontown with receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy. Burnsworth was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Wendy Dennis, of Farmington. There was no information from Fayette County Prison or state police on whether Burnsworth was jailed or paid a $15,000 bond.
Police did not identify the three other individuals arrested in connection with the incident.
The suspects were armed with at least one handgun when they fled into a wooded area nearby, according to Cpl. Charles Frye.
One of the teens allegedly fired a single shot at approximately 10 a.m. and hit a tow truck owned by Tom Wingrove, who runs a small auto repair shop at his home in Saltlick Township.
Wingrove and his sons looked on yesterday as state police investigators examined a small hole above the right rear wheel well of the truck. Earlier, Wingrove said, he was preparing breakfast for his two teenage sons when he saw the suspects walk across his back yard.
Before they ran off, Wingrove added, one of the them shot the truck and then turned toward the house.
"I got into a little verbal confrontation with them, and they said they were coming up to shoot me," he said.
According to Wingrove, the confrontation started when he complained to the boys about a stolen car they allegedly had left on his property. The boys were "calling and harassing" his family in response, he said.
Pauline Ohler, a neighbor along Clinton Road, said she watched the teens cross her back yard and walk onto Wingrove's property before the shooting.
"This is a pretty quiet place," Ohler said. "Not too much of anything goes on around here, but you couldn't tell that today." Wingrove and Ohler each reported hearing two gunshots at about 2 a.m. yesterday, but police would not say if the incident was related.
As a state police helicopter hovered above the trees and rooftops, residents of the small community gathered at intersections.
More than a dozen troopers from the Uniontown barracks searched the area in pairs. By 1 p.m., the suspects had been apprehended about a mile from the Wingrove house, along a gravel road just off Clinton Bypass.
With all four in custody, troopers concentrated on recovering a firearm the suspects were said to have dropped into Poplar Run creek at the Cavanaugh Road bridge. Personnel from Saltlick Township Volunteer Fire Department waded through the murky, chest-deep water with a rake, a pike pole and a metal detector, but found no weapon.
"We don't do this very often," fire Chief Max Gales said.
The chief said the creek was running high because of runoff from snow and rain. Although the air was unseasonably warm yesterday, the water remained icy cold.
State police eventually requested divers from New Haven Hose Co. and Scottdale Volunteer Fire Department.
The gun has not been recovered.
