MELCROFT, Pa. — Earlier this week police responded to the scene of a deadly carwash shooting at Ed’s Car Wash in Melcroft, Pennsylvania, which is about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, that left four people dead and one injured, according to The Washington Post.
As noted in multiple reports, on early Sunday morning, a silver Dodge Stratus and a green Chevrolet Silverado pulled into the parking lot of the self-serve carwash in western Pennsylvania.
William Scott Porterfield, 27, and Chelsie Lou Cline, 25, exited the Dodge and walked to the side of the carwash’s building where the two were gunned down, police said.
In the Chevrolet were 23-year-old Courtney Sue Snyder and 21-year-old Seth William Cline, who were both shot and killed inside the parked vehicle, according to reports; an unidentified female passenger, who was sitting in the back of the truck, witnessed the mass shooting, took cover and escaped with minor injuries.
In addition to the victims, the suspect, Timothy O’Brien Smith, 28, is also deceased after he was found at the scene of the crime wearing body armor and severely bleeding from a gunshot wound — reportedly self-inflicted — to his head, police said.
“It is a possibility the gunshot wound to Smith was self-inflicted,” Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower said at a news conference. “However, that determination has not been made at this time.”
According to the police, the suspected shooter was initially placed on life support at the hospital and pronounced dead just before 10 p.m. on Sunday.
According to one of the victim’s relatives, added the article, the suspect’s motive was driven by jealousy after engaging in a brief relationship with Chelsie Cline.
Sierra Kolarik, who identified herself as Chelsie Cline’s half-sister, informed reporters shortly after the shooting that the couple dated briefly, but ended the relationship months ago, continued the article; however, she explained, the obsessed suspected gunman continued to express interest in pursuing Chelsie Cline.
“He would leave her stuff on her car,” Kolarik told the news station. “She’d get done with work, and she’d come out and there would be a case of beer on her hood or scratch-off tickets or anything. If he found out she was sick, he’d bring her flowers.”
Investigators, cited reports, are currently examining the events leading up to the incident, including reported social media posts.
When reporters asked Kolarik about Smith’s interests, noted the article, she replied, “Guns and guns and guns and shooting and beer and rolling cigarettes.”
According to police, Smith was armed with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a 9mm handgun and a .308 rifle.
While details of the incident are still under investigation at the time of reporting, such as analyzing video surveillance footage and cellphone messages, Bower said police believe that Smith arrived at Ed’s Car Wash ahead of the others and parked his red Toyota Tacoma on the side of the two-bay carwash where Porterfield and Chelsie Cline were later shot and killed.
Shari Bukovac, who owns the carwash with her husband, Ed, characterized Melcroft as “fairly quiet,” adding that nothing of this magnitude has happened at the carwash in the roughly two decades they’ve owned it, concluded the article.
Read the entire article here.
