An incident in Millvale where a man pointed a shotgun at a woman and fired a round into the air in the middle of a weekday afternoon could have turned out much worse if not for a rapid police response, borough police Chief Tim Komoroski said.
Komoroski said the accused shooter, James Edward Casson, 32, retreated into his home in the 500 block of North Avenue the afternoon of Jan. 8 because he heard the sirens of responding police.
Officers shut down the 500 block of North Avenue and had Pittsburgh Regional Transit and Shaler Area school buses rerouted until Casson was arrested. However, an ABC Transit bus was close enough to capture the incident on a camera; a school bus stop is less than half a block away on the heavily traveled corridor, police said.
According to a criminal complaint, there were seven calls to Allegheny County 911 around 3:20 p.m. about a man shooting at a woman. She was found in a vehicle after flagging down an officer a short distance away at North Avenue and Elizabeth Street.
The woman told police she went to the house to get money from Casson’s father, saying she had given him $180 while he was in jail, the complaint states.
Casson became agitated when she asked if his father was home, according to the complaint. The woman said Casson went inside, grabbed a shotgun, came back out and pointed it at her while threatening to kill her.
Casson pointed the shotgun into the air, fired a shot and pointed it back at her, the complaint states. The woman said she left in her vehicle.
A witness told police she saw Casson waving a gun and pointing it at the woman’s vehicle before going back inside, the complaint states.
The woman told officers that Casson’s father returned home shortly after the incident, and that both were inside the house.
After setting up a perimeter around the house, police eventually were able to reach Casson’s father by phone, telling him that Casson needed to come out unarmed with his hands up. Casson came out shortly after and was arrested.
Casson told Komoroski he thought the woman had a gun, according to the complaint. She denied having one and allowed police to search her vehicle, where no gun was found.
Casson told police the shotgun was under his bed, and his father allowed police to search the house for it, the complaint states. Officers found a single barrel shotgun under Casson’s bed, along with four BB or pellet guns.
Casson is not allowed to possess a firearm because he pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony arson and related offenses, police said. Casson set fire to a house on Maryland Avenue in Shadyside in September 2012, and then claimed to be a hero for alerting its occupants to the blaze. Three firefighters were hurt.
While Casson was at the police station, Casson’s father called several times and said, “All he did was fire a round into the air.”
Millvale police charged Casson with felony counts of illegal possession of firearms and terroristic threats and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Casson was denied bail when he was arraigned Jan. 9 because he is a threat to the victim, according to court records. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 22.