Sep 20, 2018 4 min read

MASONTOWN – Crystal Dowdell told Fayette County Court in her Aug. 27 request for a protective order from her husband that he had grabbed her and threatened her with a gun three days earlier when she asked for a divorce.

Weeks later, Patrick Shaun Dowdell would run through a crowded magisterial district court, chasing his wife and shooting into the throng of people, according to witnesses and investigators.

Masontown is still shaken from the violent incident in the typically quiet borough, reeling from the Wednesday afternoon shooting that left the gunman dead and injured four others, including the gunman’s wife and a borough police officer.

Dowdell, 61, of Masontown, was set to appear before District Judge Daniel Shimshock at 1 p.m. Wednesday after he was accused of choking his wife Crystal, 39, at their home Aug. 25.

The couple lived in a quiet neighborhood on Poplar Street. Nearby residents said they didn’t know the Dowdells well, and one next door neighbor said that she only saw them in passing and it seemed they kept to themselves.

Elaine Kost recalled taking her car into Dowdell’s repair shop in town shortly after he was married in 2013. She chatted with him briefly about the union, and about how he was a little older. Kost’s daughters took their dogs to Crystal’s grooming business and remember she always did great work.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Kost said.

Calvin and Courtney Fenton live just a few houses down and said the only commotion they witnessed was when police visited the home about three weeks ago.

Crystal Dowdell explained in her petition for a protection-from-abuse order about the recent turbulence in their marriage.

A temporary PFA was granted Aug. 25 after an incident at the couple’s home. Crystal came home around 5:30 p.m. and said her husband had attempted to call her before she got there. Crystal did not answer, ignoring his calls. He accused her of blocking her number, and then took off his belt and wrapped it around her neck, according to the PFA. Crystal said he pushed her onto the bed, pulling the belt tight so she could not breathe.

“He said if this is the way I want it this is the way it will be. He said there would be no divorce and he would take out whoever he needed to take out,” Crystal wrote in the petition to the court.

She kneed him and was able to get away, leaving the home and not returning.

Just the day before, Crystal told her husband she wanted a divorce.

“He got up and locked the door and twisted my arm until I dropped my phone. He said I was not going to be able to call 911,” she wrote in the PFA.

Patrick allegedly had a gun and held Crystal tight next to him.

The final protection from abuse order was approved Sept. 10, to be in effect for one year. Authorities were ordered to retrieve his belongings and a vehicle from their shared home. Fayette County was to take possession of any of Patrick’s weapons.

Patrick faced charges of aggravated assault, strangulation, making terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment from the Aug. 25 incident and was free on a $10,000 bond ahead of his Wednesday court hearing.

Crystal let friends on her Facebook page know late Wednesday night that she was alright, but would not be able to contact anyone because investigators had confiscated her cell phone.

Broken glass glittered in the parking lot outside Masontown’s municipal building at 1 E. Church St. Thursday morning. A piece of plywood covered a door where the glass was shattered. Two sheets of paper posted on the other door told visitors the borough’s offices were closed, but anticipated reopening today, and other district courts would take up Shimshock’s responsibilities until further notice.

Investigators have declined to identify the German Township police officer who shot and killed the gunman. Masontown police Sgt. R. Scott Miller, a resident of Cumberland Township, also engaged the shooter but was wounded in the hand. His injury, along with the other three people shot, was not considered life-threatening.

State police have not identified the two other victims in the shooting, and declined to release more information Thursday.