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Pa. officials: Man tried to shield kids from gunshots

2 min read

WILKES-BARRE – A man threw his 2-year-old daughter to the back of a room to shield her from gunfire, and was running to protect his 5-year-old daughter when she was shot inside a northeastern Pennsylvania apartment complex, according to court documents.

Bullets also hit a second, unrelated 2-year-old girl inside the apartment.

Both young victims remained in critical condition Monday, Luzerne County District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis said. No one has been charged, though police stopped a van they believe might be connected to the shooting and detained the vehicle’s occupants on unrelated charges.

Salavantis said the children were not the intended target of the shooting, which stemmed from a domestic dispute.

“These children were part of the household where the domestic dispute began. They were neither the target, nor were they just random bullets,” she said Monday.

Search warrants filed in connection with Saturday’s shooting say a man named William “Junie” Cash went to the apartment to see the mother of his children, became upset when he saw another man leaving the apartment and began arguing with her. Cash said that two men subsequently confronted him, yelling, “Yo, come here, bro,” and shots were fired.

Cash told police he grabbed his younger daughter and tossed her out of the line of fire, but was unable to reach his older daughter before she was shot. The 2-year-old daughter of another woman, Christine Rivera, also was shot, according to court documents.

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