Testimony: Son, father said, ‘I love you’; a short time later, one was dead
Two witnesses to events surrounding the fatal shooting of a Hanover Township resident described at a preliminary hearing Wednesday a confrontation between father and son July 3 before the father was to depart for a fishing trip.
Ironically, Joseph Robert Warrick Sr., 46, of Florence, and his son, Joseph Robert Warrick Jr., 22, known as Joey, expressed their love for each other during what turned out to be minutes before the father’s death.
Warrick Sr. asked his son to smoke marijuana with him that afternoon, and when the dad could not find a vape pen, the father quickly became agitated and went to his bedroom to look for it, according to Warrick Jr.’s friend, Lawrence Stevens of Burgettstown, who was at the Warrick home on his way to eating a late lunch.
Warrick Sr., known as J.R., accused his son of either stealing the vape pen or giving it away, Stevens testified, saying Warrick Sr. “kind of got into Joe (Jr.’s) face …. They got really heated and started going at each other.”
At about this time, Renee Wolansky, Warrick Sr.’s girlfriend, returned from work and when she, too, raised her voice, Warrick Jr. told her to shut up, stoking the father’s anger.
The son called his father bipolar, Wolansky testified, later noting she was not aware this was a condition for which Warrick Sr. had been medically diagnosed.
She did tell the judge, “He had a temper.”
The son flung $50 at his father in exchange for the missing vape pen.
A physical clash ensued in the garage of their home in the Burgettstown area. Warrick Jr. fended off his father, and the son reached for a holstered gun.
“As soon as Joey pulled it out, it discharged and he shot his dad. His dad was on his hands and knees holding his chest,” testified Stevens, who left the Hanover Acres premises and called 911.
Wolansky was halfway up steps from the garage when she heard a gunshot.
“I turned around and Joey still had the gun. He was bringing it down to put it into its holster,” she demonstrated from the witness stand, extending her arm and pointing her forefinger.
“I ran down,” she continued. “I almost fell down the steps trying to get to my boyfriend.”
When she described looking into Warrick Sr.’s vacant eyes, her voice broke.
Both Stevens and Wolansky testified they had seen the men argue previously, but not engage in tussling or exchange blows before that day.
Stevens described his friend, whom he had known since childhood, as “a happy-go-lucky guy, one of the best persons I’ve ever known.” The gun Warrick Jr. had with him that day, a .38 Special, was a recent purchase, according to Stevens, not for protection, but for sport.
Christopher Blackwell, Warrick Jr.’s attorney, after the hearing at which District Judge Gary Havelka presided, called the circumstances “a family tragedy,” but said, “There’s evidence to suggest self-defense. The victim had been having some violent mood swings; he’s the one who initiates the argument.
“And now the dad is physically attacking his son. He’s challenging, ‘Be a man, Let’s go outside.'”
Havelka held all charges against Warrick Jr.: criminal homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault, making terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person.
Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann noted in a brief closing argument that the son did not aid his father after the gun discharged or seek help.
The first responder, Hanover Township police Officer Renee Maddex, was dispatched at 3:55 p.m. Wolansky ordered Warrick Jr. from the home she shared with father and son, and when he emerged, Maddex detained him.
Warrick Jr. asked, “Is he alive? I didn’t mean to shoot him. Is he alive?” Maddex testified. “He was upset. It looked like he was trying to hold back from crying.”
The firearm, which Maddex described as “some kind of revolver,” was lying on a table.
Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco pronounced Warrick Sr. dead of a through-and-through gunshot wound of the chest.
Warrick Jr. monitored the courthouse proceeding via video from the county jail, where he is being held without bond.
Friedmann said after the hearing that the district attorney’s office can decide whether to pursue a murder or manslaughter charge against Warrick Jr. before his formal arraignment, which could take place as soon as next month.