More details about a man who opened fire at a western Pennsylvania car wash, killing four people on Sunday morning, have been released.
Timothy Smith, 28, is accused of going to Ed’s Car Wash in Melcroft, located about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, at around 3 a.m. before opening fire on a group of people.
He killed his ex-girlfriend, 25-year-old Chelsie Cline, 27-year-old William Porterfield, 23-year-old Courtney Snyder, and 21-year-old Seth Cline. Another woman in her 20s took cover in a vehicle as the gunfire erupted, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower identified Smith as the suspect, while adding that he’s not expected to survive a likely self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Smith, who was armed with an AR-15 and other weapons, is being treated at a local hospital.
“I don’t understand,” Sierra Kolarik, 24, Chelsie Cline’s half-sister, told the Tribune-Review. “I still don’t believe it.” She called the incident a domestic dispute.
A jealous man armed with a handgun and .308-caliber rifle shot a woman and three other people at a Pennsylvania car wash https://t.co/GAxMxm4zYm
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) January 29, 2018
“We’re not sure exactly what occurred,” added Trooper Robert Broadwater at the scene of the crime, according to the Tribune-Review. “Trying to investigate why this happened and how it happened.”
Cline last week posted a meme on her Facebook page, which read: “After this week, I rlly [sic] need to get taken out … on a date or by a sniper either one is fine w me at this point.” A Facebook friend named Tim Smith issued a reply: “I could do both,” according to Fox News.
Jenna Porterfield, who is the pregnant wife of William Porterfield, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Cline and Smith had dated, saying that Smith was “jealous.” Police added that Cline was William Porterfield’s “companion.”
“I was told my husband was cheating on me with [one of the victims], and that she had broken up with her previous boyfriend two days ago, and he went crazy and shot them all,” she told the Post-Gazette. She also said that she and her late husband were having marital troubles this month.
“I’m not holding that against Will. We weren’t fighting. We were fixing,” she told the Post-Gazette. “And if he was with someone else while we were having problems, honestly, I don’t care what he did. I’m not going to hold that against him. I’d give anything to have him back.”
Officials had reported that five people were killed in the incident, but later on Sunday, they said that only four had been killed.
It’s also not clear why the group of people were at the car wash, Fox News reported.
A man who lives nearby said he heard about 30 shots in a few minutes.
“There is no continued threat to the community,” a police spokesman said, Reuters reported.
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