Armstrong man pleads guilty for teen shooting in New Kensington

An Armstrong County man pleaded guilty Monday for his role in the shooting of a teenage girl two years ago in New Kensington.

Police said Deonte Joseph Slomkoski, 19, was identified as the man who shot at the girl during a fight on Sept. 18, 2020 on Freeport Street. According to court records, video recorded from a surveillance camera at the New Kensington Fire Department No. 2 depicted Slomkoski pushing a female to the ground and later pulling a gun from his waistband and firing the weapon.

Slomkoski’s victim was wounded in the leg and later identified him as the person who fired the shot.

In court on Monday, Slomkoski pleaded guilty to single counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and illegal possession of a firearm by a minor. Johnson was 17 at the time of incident but prosecuted as an adult, according to court records.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears sentenced Slomkoski to serve up to three years in prison but ordered he be immediately paroled after he gave him credit for the 279 days he served in jail following his arrest.

As part of the sentence, the judge also ordered Slomkoski to serve two years on probation, including 16 months of house arrest.

According to court records, Slomkoski had been in and out of jail over the last two years. His $25,000 bond was initially revoked in June 2021 after prosecutors said he had overdosed at a New Kensington home and had to be revived with Narcan.