{"id":5886,"date":"2014-05-10T20:56:29","date_gmt":"2014-05-11T00:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5886"},"modified":"2014-05-10T20:56:29","modified_gmt":"2014-05-11T00:56:29","slug":"n-coventry-man-charged-with-shooting-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5886","title":{"rendered":"N. Coventry man charged with shooting boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detectives say he fired random shot that went through 8-year-old’s thigh<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Wayne<\/a>

Wayne Snowden<\/p><\/div>\n

An 8-year-old boy is recovering from an apparently random gunshot wound to his thigh in North Coventry Township, and the alleged shooter is in custody, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan and North Coventry Township Police Chief Bob Schurr announced.<\/p>\n

Wayne Snowden, 55, of Pottstown, has been charged with aggravated assault and related offenses for shooting the young boy while he was riding his bicycle in the area of West Main Street and Coyne Alley in North Coventry Township on Friday, May 9, a news release from the District Attorney\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn 8-year-old boy out riding his bike with a buddy on a warm spring evening in Chester County should not have to worry that he is going to be shot,\u201d said Hogan.\u00a0 \u201cThe defendant was extraordinarily reckless.\u00a0 The right to own firearms includes the responsibility to handle firearms safely.\u00a0 We are all grateful that this innocent child was not killed just a couple of days before Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schurr agreed, adding that he wanted \u201cto reassure the community that the victim in this case was not specifically targeted, this was a case of irresponsible gun handling in its most tragic form.\u201d\u00a0 He said he appreciated the support of neighbors, the victims and their families as well as the diligence of investigators.<\/p>\n

The shooting occurred a little before 5 p.m., and when police arrived, Snowden, who had been in the vicinity, retreated to his residence, which faced the area where the boy was shot, the criminal complaint said. The boy was flown by helicopter to Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was treated for a “through and through,” gunshot wound to the left upper mid-thigh, meaning that the projectile had passed entirely through the wounded limb, the complaint said.<\/p>\n

Police investigation and witness interviews revealed that the shot came from the area of Snowden\u2019s residence and that he had been on his porch with a black Glock handgun in his hand, the complaint said.\u00a0 Police recovered two handguns from Snowden\u2019s residence, one of which expelled a spent 9mm casing when a county detective racked the weapon\u2019s slide, the complaint said.<\/p>\n

Hogan said the case represented \u201ca model response for reacting to an emergency situation involving a child,\u201d and he praised the work of the North Coventry Police Department, the Chester County Detectives West Pottsgrove Township Police, Goodwill Ambulance, PennSTAR, and Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detectives say he fired random shot that went through 8-year-old’s thigh An 8-year-old boy is recovering from an apparently random gunshot wound to his thigh in North Coventry Township, and the alleged shooter is in custody, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan and North Coventry Township Police Chief Bob Schurr announced. Wayne Snowden, 55, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[156,3714,3712,3716,3715,3713],"class_list":["post-5886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-goodwill-ambulance","tag-north-coventry-police-department","tag-north-coventry-township-police-chief-bob-schurr","tag-pennstar","tag-the-chester-county-detectives-west-pottsgrove-township-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}