Dared to shoot, he fired

Tredyffrin man charged with shooting daughter’s friend in leg

WEST WHITELAND >> A Tredyffrin man has been charged with firing a shot into the leg of a man who he believed had been harassing his daughter, after the victim dared his assailant to shoot him.

Shawn Pecora, 50, of Chesterbrook turned himself in to authorities Wednesday afternoon at Magisterial District Judge John Bailey’s court in West Whiteland. He had admitted shooting his daughter’s friend, an ex-convict, during a confrontation outside his daughter’s home in East Whiteland.

Pecora, a military veteran, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person for the incident that occurred earlier this month. He was arraigned by Bailey, who set bail at $75,000 unsecured.

According to a criminal complaint filed by East Whiteland Detectives Patricia Doyle and John Kopacz, township police were called to a home on Markel Road for the report of a shooting around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 9, with Pecora identified as the caller who told emergency dispatchers that he had shot someone. When officers arrived, the victim of the shooting, identified as Bryan Love, had left the area.

Police said that Pecora was taken to the township police station, where he as interviewed. He told investigators that the incident had begun when he received a call from his daughter, Devon Pecora, around midnight, saying that she had gotten into an argument with Love and needed a ride home. She was at the Wawa on East Market Street in West Chester.

Pecora said he could hear someone shouting angrily in the background, but that his daughter told the person to stop following her. The male voice told Devon Pecora to get in his truck, but

Pecora is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person for the incident that occurred earlier this month.

she refused initially, telling her father to call her brother, who lives in West Chester, to come and pick her up. Later, a friend of the brother arrived at the Wawa, only to find that Devon Pecora had decided to go to her home with Love.

When Pecora learned of his daughter’s plans, he got into his car and drove to her house on Markel Road. With him, he brought a handgun, he told the investigators, because he “didn’t know the situation he was facing.”

During the ride, Pecora attempted to call his daughter, only to get texts from her

asking him not to call the police and telling him that she was arriving at the house. When Pecora approached the truck his daughter and Love were in, Love saw the gun he was holding and asked, “What, are you going to shoot me?” Pecora said he identified himself, and said that he did not intend to shoot Love.

But Love exited the truck, began calling Pecora names, and dared him to shoot, the complaint states. He also told Pecora to “drop the gun and fight like a man.” Pecora refused, and the two continued to spar both verbally and physically, with Pecora saying that Love shoved him several times. Finally, when Love tried to push him away, Pecora said he fired his gun into Love’s

left leg.

Both Devon Pecora and her brother’s friend, John Ray, who lived across the street, gave similar accounts of the incident, although Devon Pecora told police she did not think her father needed to shoot Love.

Love was teated for a gunshot wound to the upper thigh at Chester County Hospital.

Defense attorney Robert J. Donatoni of West Chester accompanied Pecora to the arraignment Wednesday. Later, he said his client had agreed to speak with police.

“He has been completely cooperative with the District Attorney and detectives,” Donatoni said. “He believes he was acting in self-defense against a person with a violent crim-

inal history. I am proud to represent a man who was deployed five times in the Middle East and was called in for security after the bombing in the Atlanta Olympics.”

“We will continue our dialogue with the authorities, and prepare for the next phase in this case,” he said.

Love, 30, of West Chester has a criminal record that dates back to 2004 and involves arrests for drug possession, assault, and drunk driving. He has been in and out of Chester County Prison, and was sentenced to serve three to six years in state prison in March 2012 for assaulting two West Chester men with a brick.

A preliminary hearing on the charges against Pecora is scheduled for March 7.