Police: Chesco man shot boy, 8, on bike
He's jailed on assault charges
A MAN HAS been jailed on charges he shot a young boy in the leg as the boy rode his bicycle near the man's home in Chester County.
North Coventry Township Police Chief Robert Schurr said the boy wasn't specifically targeted by Wayne Snowden, 55, who remained jailed yesterday on charges including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
"This was a case of irresponsible gun handling in its most tragic form," Schurr said.
Schurr and Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan contend Snowden fired the gun from the deck of his home about 5 p.m. Friday, striking the 8-year-old second-grader in the thigh. Authorities have not released the name of the boy, who was treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and had been released by Saturday for what Hogan called a "through and through" wound.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Snowden, who police said denied firing the shot, contradicting witnesses who heard a shot before seeing Snowden put the gun in the pocket of his bathrobe.
Snowden acknowledged having a 9mm Glock handgun but told police it had been kept in a drawer. When police found it, they ejected a recently fired shell from the gun's slide.
A friend riding bikes with the victim dragged him to safety then ran for help.
"An 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," Hogan said. "The defendant was extraordinarily reckless."