A Montco man was convicted of robbing a cyclist at gunpoint, shooting at cops during a two-hour chase
Charles Bowne III, 37, stole the cyclist's bike and cell phone at gunpoint during a confrontation last year, prosecutors said Thursday.
A Pennsburg man was convicted Thursday of robbery, assault of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, and related crimes for shooting at police officers during a two-hour pursuit last year.
Charles Bowne III, 37, fired a .44 Magnum revolver multiple times at officers from several jurisdictions in Bucks and Montgomery Counties during the 10-mile pursuit in June 2025.
That pursuit began, prosecutors said, when officers tracked Bowne down after reports that he had robbed a cyclist at gunpoint minutes earlier and fired at least five shots at him.
Montgomery County Court Judge William Carpenter delivered the verdict after a brief bench trial Thursday.
Bowne will be sentenced in the coming months. His attorney, Andrew Levin, declined to comment after the proceeding.
During the trial, Levin said that his client never intended to hurt anyone that afternoon, and that, while he did fire his gun, he shot it with the barrel pointed to the sky.
Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Kathleen McLaughlin, withdrew an attempted murder charge against Bowne shortly before the trial began.
On the day of the shooting, Bowne pulled up alongside a cyclist in his Ford Mustang as the man was riding on Swamp Creek Road in Marlborough Township. He yelled at him to “go home to [his] family,” according to evidence presented Thursday.
Bowne then pointed a revolver at the man, demanding his bike and cell phone. The man complied, and told officers he ran away as Bowne fired the gun in the air.
Not long after, a Marlborough Township police officer responding to the 911 call saw Bowne’s Mustang parked on the side of Swamp Creek Road and parked his police car to speak with him.
Before the officer could get out of his vehicle, Bowne fired his revolver at him and sped away.
During the chase that followed, Bowne continued to fire at the officers, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
He was later taken into custody in West Rockhill Township after speaking on the phone with a crisis negotiator.
