Staff writer
A series of events that apparently started in Washington with a home invasion ended less than two hours later with the reported victim of the break-in with a bullet lodged near his spine.
Canonsburg police Detective Al Coghill said Monday that the shooting victim, Kristopher Strejcek, 22, remained in Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh with a gunshot wound. Coghill said he is paralyzed after being shot during a confrontation in a parking lot in the 500 block of Valley View Terrace Saturday night.
Michael L. Randolph, 25, of Washington, who went to Canonsburg with Strejcek, was treated at Canonsburg General Hospital after he said he was pistol-whipped.
Police said Strejcek initially was not cooperative with officers as he was being loaded into an ambulance for treatment.
The events Saturday night apparently started when three men forced their way into the home at 55 McCarrell Ave., Washington, that Strejcek shares with Sheena Johnson.
Three men kicked in the front door about 6:40 p.m., Washington police said. Two of the men had guns, one of them a revolver.
One of the intruders told Johnson, "This is for my house being robbed."
Strejcek told city police that he gave the intruders $300. One of the three also tried to steal a video game system.
All three suspects are black and in their mid-20s. One was light-skinned with a goatee and was wearing a black shirt.
A short time later, Ryan Wallace of 4501/2 Broad St., Washington, told police that one of what are believed to be the same three men pulled up in front of his house and fired two or three shots at him.
Wallace said he was inside his home when he heard a car horn beep. He went outside and, as he approached, the driver got out and pulled out a handgun. Wallace went back to the house as the shots were fired. One of the bullets wedged in a storm door and the other in the front door.
Wallace gave police a similar description of the suspects.
Canonsburg police impounded two vehicles found at the scene of the first shooting. One of the vehicles is believed to have belonged to the victims.
Both departments are continuing to investigate.