Pennsylvania: Masontown court shooter, Patrick Dowdell wounds four trying to kill wife Crystal Dowdell
A gunman who opened fire Wednesday at a courthouse in a small Pennsylvania town, Masontown, was shot dead by a police officer responding to the incident in which four people were wounded. This has been clarified to be a domestic violence case gone horrible more violence and dangerous.
Patrick Dowdell
Patrick Dowdell, 61, has been identified as the shooter, was scheduled for a hearing on assault charges he received weeks ago.
He entered the lobby shortly after 2 p.m. and began shooting with a handgun, said Lt. Steven Dowlin, station commander of the Pennsylvania Police Department’s Troop B, which handles Fayette County.
Police officers from the Masontown Borough Police Department and German Township Police Department then entered the lobby, and Masontown Police Sgt. R. Scott Miller was shot after he engaged Dowdell.
After Miller took cover, the gunman continued into the building and shot two males and one female, said Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower. A German township police officer then shot the gunman multiple times, killing him as he attempted to make it in a courtroom.
Dowdell was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators have confirmed Dowdell’s wife, Crystal, was the person he was after. Under federal law, the domestic violence charges would have required the man to surrender his firearms.
From the petition and court documents: Crystal Dowdell said she told Patrick she wanted a divorce on Aug. 24, 2018. He then allegedly locked the door and twisted her arm until she dropped her phone. Crystal said he told her she would not be able to call 911, and he grabbed her tightly with a gun in his hand and told her there would be no divorce.
The next day, he allegedly accused her of ignoring his calls and blocking his number. Crystal says he took off his belt, wrapped it around her neck, pushed her down on the bed and pulled the belt so tightly that she could not breathe. He allegedly again said there would be no divorce and that he would take out whomever he needed to take out.
Crystal said she kneed him to get him to let up. She then escaped and called police.
