A woman from Atco is facing multiple criminal charges after police say she got out of a pickup truck on a rural Medford Township road and fired a rifle toward a nearby home. No people or homes were struck, officials said, but the Monday evening incident triggered a search warrant, a gun seizure, and an arrest that landed the woman in Burlington County Jail.
According to Patch, Medford Township police responded to the rural, undisclosed road at around 5 p.m. last Monday after receiving a report of a shooting. Investigators determined that Shelby Desorte had exited a pickup truck and discharged a rifle toward a residence, per the Newport Dispatch. Officials said no people or homes were actually hit by the gunfire.
Search Warrant Leads to Weapon Seizure
Detectives identified Desorte, of Atco, as the suspect and moved quickly to secure court-authorized search warrants for her residence, the Newport Dispatch reports. That search turned up a firearm, which was confiscated as part of the investigation, according to the same report. The Lower Camden County Regional Special Response Team, made up of officers from Berlin, Berlin Township, Pine Hill, Waterford and Voorhees, assisted detectives during the operation, per the station's report.
That unit typically handles the apprehension of dangerous suspects and the service of high-risk warrants, according to the Berlin Police Department. Its involvement in the Medford Township case points to the risk authorities associated with executing the warrant at Desorte's home.
Four Charges Filed
Desorte was arrested on suspicion of multiple offenses and was ultimately charged with unlawful weapons possession, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, criminal mischief, and reckless discharge of a firearm, the same account notes. She was then lodged at Burlington County Jail. The exact road where the shooting occurred has not been disclosed, and investigators have not released a motive or described Desorte's relationship, if any, to the homeowner.
Part of a Tense Stretch for Burlington County
The Medford Township case lands amid a string of violent incidents across Burlington County this month. In Burlington City, three people were injured in a shooting on a Monday evening, while a separate shooting outside a 7-Eleven in Bordentown Township left two men dead, according to Hoodline. In Pemberton Township, a home fire escalated into what FOX 29 described as a chaotic active-shooter incident, with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office now investigating it as a fatal police-involved shooting after a firearm was recovered near the deceased man.
No further details on Desorte's court status have been made public, and it remains unclear whether she has entered a plea or retained an attorney.
