A 48-year-old Slippery Rock man is facing attempted murder and aggravated assault charges after a victim told police someone in a red car fired rifle rounds into his moving vehicle at a Venango County intersection. Ryan Allen Williams was arraigned on October 28 and denied bail, five days after state police say he opened fire during an afternoon drive-by shooting near Horsecreek Road and East State Road in Cranberry Township.
According to exploreVenango, the victim contacted 911 around 3:24 p.m. on October 23 to report that someone in a red car had shot at his vehicle. He told investigators he was stopped at the intersection when a car pulled up rapidly behind him. “I started accelerating away from the stop sign, and it was after I was already moving, I looked in the rearview mirror, and that's when the rifle came out, and I heard pop…pop,” the victim said, according to the complaint. “I just put my head down and just gunned it,” he added.
A trooper who responded to the scene observed two large bullet holes in the trunk lid of the victim's 1998 Dodge Neon along with a leaking fuel tank, per the affidavit. Police say one bullet traveled through the trunk, penetrated the rear passenger seat, and entered the back of the front passenger seat, while another ricocheted off the roadway and punctured the gas tank. Troopers also found two spent .22-caliber casings at the shooting scene, according to the same report.
Surveillance Footage Traces the Chase
Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed the victim's car traveling north on Horsecreek Road, followed seconds later by the suspect vehicle, the outlet reports. Police say the red car then passed a nearby residence with a male passenger extending an arm out an open window. Investigators connected the suspect vehicle to surveillance footage from a convenience store in Seneca, per the complaint, and troopers eventually located the car parked at a property on Horsecreek Road.
A female driver identified Williams as the shooter, according to the complaint, and said he later threatened her, telling her, “You better not tell anyone.” These remain allegations contained in the criminal complaint and have not been independently verified.
Search Warrant Leads to Foot Chase and Rifle Recovery
Pennsylvania State Police in Franklin executed a search warrant at the Horsecreek Road property on October 28. Williams exited a gray pickup truck on the property and fled on foot before troopers apprehended him, the report states. Inside the pickup, troopers recovered a semi-automatic Mossberg rifle equipped with a red-dot scope and magazine, per the complaint.
The complaint says Williams was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior convictions for burglary and robbery. Under Pennsylvania law, people convicted of enumerated offenses including murder and aggravated assault are barred from possessing, using, controlling, selling, transferring, or manufacturing firearms in the Commonwealth. Williams was also wanted on active felony arrest warrants at the time of his arrest, according to the complaint.
Lengthy Charge List and No Bail
Charges against Williams were filed in Magisterial District Judge Patrick E. Lowrey's office and include criminal attempt — murder of the first degree, two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm prohibited, flight to avoid apprehension, propelling a missile into occupied vehicles, possession of a weapon, terroristic threats, evading arrest on foot, recklessly endangering another person, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, court documents show.
Williams was arraigned on October 28 in Venango County Central Court before Magisterial District Judge Kevin Saragian. Saragian denied bail, citing Williams as a danger to others, and Williams is now lodged in Venango County Prison, according to court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Venango County Central Court.
