The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

April 3, 2009

UPDATE: Police catch armed man after assault, shot fired

By Matt Snyder

PINE TOWNSHIP — A Pine Township man beat up a woman, shot at her with a semi-automatic rifle and attacked a man who came to her aid before he was arrested Wednesday, police said.

Gary Dean Koebler, 56, of 992 Stevenson Road, faces charges of aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment.

Koebler got into a heated argument with a woman whom he punched in the face and head repeatedly at about 10 p.m. in his home, police said.

Koebler broke the home phone into pieces and the woman fled to a garage near the house, police said. While she ran, Koebler got his SKS rifle — a Soviet-made rifle that fires the same ammunition as an AK-47 — and fired it.

Koebler admitted to police he fired a round, and police found a divot in the yard, they said. Koebler maintained he was not trying to hit her with the bullet.

A 26-year-old man arrived at the home and saw the woman crying on the phone, police said. He told police he asked Koebler if he’d hit the woman and Koebler punched him and put him in a headlock.

The young man fought back, broke free, and hit Koebler several times, he said. Koebler then knocked things around in the garage and left, the younger man told police.

Koebler was armed with a rifle as he drove away in the woman’s car, police said.

Police said Koebler was arrested at about 11 p.m. a few miles away at 914 Eastover Road, Pine Township. Besides firing the shot, Koebler admitted to shoving the woman and hitting the young man, police said.

Koebler remains in Mercer County Jail on $35,000 bond, said a county jail spokesman.

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