A Derry Township man was jailed over the weekend after he fired a revolver within 10 feet of a relative while inside his North Wharton Street home. According to court records, members of the Pennsylvania State Police at Troop A, Kiski Valley, were dispatched at approximately 5:19 p.m.
Friday to 403 N. Wharton St., Derry Township, after a female relative called and told police that 68-year-old Dennis Andrew Short “was intoxicated and had fired a gun inside the house during an argument.
” Multiple PSP patrol units responded to the scene, in addition to backup from the Derry Borough and Latrobe City police departments. Upon arrival, officers instructed the 911 caller to exit the residence, which she did. Law enforcement officers then set up a perimeter.
The relative told police that she and Short “had been on and off arguing lately” before she left the residence earlier in the day. When she returned home, Short was reportedly passed out on a living room chair with a liquor bottle in his hand, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. Short awakened as the relative tried to quietly walk by him.
The pair began arguing in the kitchen area of the residence, according to court papers, while Short “had a handgun in his hand.” The relative told Short to put the gun away, but he countered by placing the firearm beneath his chin, “making the motion that he would shoot himself if she left him.” The relative told police she then took out her cellphone and began di.