Man gets prison for Pottstown shooting
NORRISTOWN >> A Norristown man who used a stolen gun during a shooting in Pottstown that left him and a Pottstown woman injured is on his way to state prison on assault and weapons charges.
Donte Tyrese Webb, 19, of the 600 block of Noble Street, Norristown, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to six to 15 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated assault and firearms not to be carried without a license in connection with the 8:30 p.m. July 5, 2017, shooting in the 400 block of Chestnut Street in Pottstown.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill, who accepted a plea agreement in the
case, also ordered Webb to complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning Webb will be under court supervision for 20 years.
By pleading guilty to the aggravated assault charge, Webb admitted that during the shooting he caused serious bodily injury to the Pottstown woman, a bystander caught in the crossfire, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life.
The investigation began when Pottstown police responded to the area of Chestnut and North Washington streets for a report of shots fired. At the scene, officers located two individuals with gunshot wounds, one of them identified as Webb and another, a female bystander, according to detectives.
Webb allegedly ran from the scene and was later found by ambulance personnel near the area of North Franklin Street and Rowan Alley, according to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Detective Heather Long.
Webb, who was shot in the lower back and right hand, and the female victim, who was struck in the buttocks, were transported to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries, according to court documents.
Detectives were led to the 300 block of Chestnut Street where they located blood drops and spatter in a yard. Detectives also obtained video surveillance footage from the area.
The video surveillance showed a male coming from a nearby yard and approaching Rowan Alley and stopping short of entering the alley. The man was observed lifting his shirt and removing a dark colored object from his waistband and placing it near a bucket, detectives alleged.
When detectives searched the area depicted in the surveillance footage, they found a black Glock 9mm handgun behind a white bucket. Detectives said the magazine in the gun “was empty and the slide was partially back with a spent 9mm casing lodged in the chamber, not ejected,” according to the criminal complaint.
The gun was registered to one of Webb’s family members, detectives alleged.
Additionally, detectives observed a blood trail leading from the side of the residence.
“The other crime scene had numerous vehicles struck with projectiles and shell casings throughout the street. A total of eleven 9mm casings were located. There were two different areas of blood evidence that were also located,” Long wrote in the criminal complaint.
Blood was located on a vehicle parked on the north side of Chestnut Street and a pool of blood was located on the sidewalk in the 400 block of Chestnut Street, according to court documents. When police returned the next day, they found six .40-caliber shell casings and found that vehicles in the area had been struck by bullets coming from different directions.
Witnesses told detectives that before the shots rang out Webb was on a porch where he was speaking with two people for a short time. Another unidentified man was observed standing by the curb and as Webb left the porch, the witness heard shots fired. Witnesses reportedly grabbed several children who were outside and ran into a house.
On July 6, detectives obtained additional video surveillance that showed Webb returning to the area where the gun was found, according to court papers.
The following day, Webb went to the police station and after speaking with detectives, signed a statement in which he admitted to firing the gun that belonged to one of his family members and claimed he took it without his relative’s knowledge.
“He loaded it with six or seven rounds and fired the gun until the magazine ran out,” Long alleged, adding Webb claimed he did not know the individuals who shot at him but that he returned fire and ran into the yard.
Webb admitted that he handed the gun off to a second man to hide in a nearby yard and said he returned the next day to look for it, according to court documents.
Detectives alleged Webb has a criminal history that prohibits him from possessing a firearm and said that he did not have a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Court papers indicate detectives obtained video surveillance that showed Webb and a second man get off a bus at North Washington and East High streets after traveling from Norristown. Webb, detectives alleged, was not in Pottstown more than 15 minutes when the shooting occurred.
Other charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, persons not to possess firearms and tampering with physical evidence were dismissed against Webb as part of the plea agreement.