McShane
Police officers were forced to shoot a Lower Mayfair man on Oct. 19 as he stood in his doorway and pointed a rifle at them after assaulting his wife, authorities say.
Timothy McShane, 55, of the 6300 block of Crafton St., suffered wounds of the arm and was treated at a local hospital after the shooting. But he was soon released from the medical facility to face criminal charges.
The drama occurred just before 6 p.m. when officers from the 15th district went to McShane’s rowhouse in response to a report of “a person with a gun.” As two cops exited a patrol vehicle and approached the house, McShane opened the front door holding a rifle, police claim. McShane raised the barrel of the rifle and pointed it toward the officers, who both fired their pistols at him, striking him in the left arm.
McShane then threw his rifle onto the front lawn. The officers approached and apprehended him. Police later determined that the weapon was an unloaded pellet rifle.
Investigators also learned that McShane’s 56-year-old wife had fled the couple’s house prior to the officers’ arrival. She had bruises around her left eye and cuts to her left hand and blamed her husband for inflicting the injuries.
No other injuries occurred during the episode, police said.
The police officers involved in the shooting have been taken off the street and placed on administrative duty pending the conclusion of a preliminary investigation by the police department’s Internal Affairs unit and the District Attorney’s Office.
Police did not disclose what may have motivated the domestic dispute.
Court records show that McShane has a history of arrests in Philadelphia dating to 2001, when he was charged with drug possession. The DA ultimately withdrew the case.
In 2009, he was charged with drug possession, drunk driving, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, and convicted of all but the assault charge. A judge ordered him to serve three days in jail and six months on probation.
In 2013, he was arrested for modifying and/or selling an “offensive weapon.” State law uses the term to describe bombs, grenades, machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, handguns modified for silence or concealment, brass knuckles, switchblade knives, stun guns and other weapons that could “inflict serious bodily injury and serve no common lawful purpose.” A judge convicted him of the misdemeanor and sentenced him to six months probation.
Last year, McShane was arrested for drug possession, but the DA later withdrew the charge.
His new case includes multiple counts of felony assault, as well as reckless endangerment, possessing an instrument of crime and making terroristic threats. He is held at the city’s Detention Center in lieu of bail, which is set at $250,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8. ••
