A bullet tore through a bedroom wall in a York City home on West Poplar Street on Oct. 16, crossing the room in a straight line while two children sat inside, according to police. The man accused of firing the shot from next door, 24-year-old Kevin Armando Medina, has now been charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors tied to the incident.
Medina was charged with firing the gun that left a bullet inside his neighbor's home around 9:38 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, according to York Daily Record. The incident happened in the 800 block of West Poplar Street in York City. The neighbor told investigators that two children were in the second-story bedroom at the time the bullet came through the wall.
Bullet Crossed the Room in a Straight Line
Police said they observed a large hole in the bedroom's western wall and a corresponding impact point on the eastern wall, concluding that the bullet traveled in a straight trajectory across the room, the outlet's report notes. The neighbor said Medina's father came to him afterward and said Medina had fired the weapon into their home. According to that same account, Medina's father told police he had heard a loud bang that sounded like a heavy dumbbell being dropped on the floor, before learning his son had discharged a weapon inside his own bedroom.
Police said Medina left the residence after the incident with a blanket covering himself, saying only that he had to go, per the report. Medina's father reportedly showed officers his son's bedroom, where they said they found a hole in the eastern portion of the wall and, beneath it, a rectangular mirror with a circular hole in it. Investigators said the mirror had been hanging on the wall when the firearm was discharged.
Search Turns Up Firearm Parts and Ammunition
Officers obtained a warrant to search Medina's bedroom and said they found an assortment of firearm parts and ammunition, including multiple magazines and a polymer lower handgun receiver, the same account states. Investigators also said a spent shell casing found on Medina's bed matched bullets allegedly found in his computer desk.
Police said Medina's past criminal history precluded him from legally possessing a firearm. As a result, he faces felony charges of possessing a firearm while prohibited and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, along with two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, the report states. As of Oct. 21, court records showed Medina had not yet seen a judge regarding the charges.
What Pennsylvania Law Says About Firing Into Homes
Under Pennsylvania law, a person commits an offense if they knowingly, intentionally or recklessly discharge a firearm from any location into an occupied structure, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The statute defines an occupied structure broadly, covering any structure, vehicle or place adapted for overnight accommodation or business use, whether or not someone is actually present at the time. The offense is classified as a third-degree felony under state law.
The West Poplar Street address sits in a part of York City that has seen gun violence before. In a separate incident on the 700 block of West Poplar Street, a 26-year-old man suffered a single gunshot wound in an early Sunday morning shooting and was expected to survive, according to ABC27. It remains unclear whether that report involved the same block as the Oct. 16 case.
