Aleppo man pleads guilty to shooting at local home

WAYNESBURG – An Aleppo man who fired a shotgun into the mobile home of a man he claimed had smashed his windshield with a brick pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge and was sentenced to time served and 2 ½ years in the county intermediate punishment program.
Neil Robert Young, 54, of 389 Quiet Dell Road, was arrested the night of June 23 after he fired a shotgun into a pickup truck and a mobile home at 516 Greene Valley Road.
Young told police a feud between him and one of the residents, Dusty Jones, prompted him to fire two shots about 9:15 p.m.
He alleged Jones broke his truck’s windshield with a brick earlier that day.
Police said Young told them he was “tired of (the) criminal acts and something just clicked,” according to the criminal complaint.
Young fired one shot at the pickup truck while driving on Greene Valley Road and then returned moments later and fired again, this time hitting the home in “close proximity” to where Teresa Jones and Chloe Jones were standing, police said.
One person inside the home, Shane VanBuskirk, was just a few feet away from where shotgun pellets penetrated the wall.
Police said Young fired the shotgun at the upper part of the mobile home and told them he was not trying to hurt anyone.
He also told police he did not fire toward the people who were standing outside the residence.
Police arrested Young that night as he was driving near his home. They initially stopped his vehicle after he turned without signaling.
Young was “very intoxicated” and police said they found a shotgun and two shell casings in his truck, along with an open beer container resting between his legs. Police said Young had a blood-alcohol content level of .243 percent
As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors withdrew the most serious offense, a felony charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.
Young pleaded guilty before Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman to recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor; driving under the influence of alcohol, criminal mischief and six summary traffic violations.
As part of his sentence under the county intermediate punishment program, Young was given 23 days in jail, and received credit for 23 days already served, and three months of house arrest, wearing a GPS and alcohol monitoring bracelet.
Young also was fined $1,400 and as a special condition ordered to stay away from Teresa Jones, Shane VanBuskirk, Chloe Jones and Robert C. Harris.