Bond denied for man accused in Vandergrift shooting

A Leechburg man was arraigned Monday on charges that he shot a woman in the face before shooting himself in the head at a Vandergrift residence in May.

Police said Roy Edward Berry Jr., 49, was in a bedroom with a woman on May 5 when he fired a shot from a 9 mm handgun that went through the woman’s mouth before shooting himself, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.

The woman’s husband, who was in another room with their infant child at the time of the shooting, secured the weapon until police arrived, the complaint said.

Berry and the woman were taken to Forbes Hospital, Monroeville. The woman, whose tongue was partially severed and had holes in both cheeks, was undergoing speech therapy as of early June, the complaint said.

The complaint did not list a motive for the shooting.

After being released from medical care, Berry agreed to turn himself in at a district judge’s office to be arraigned, police said. He was arraigned Monday before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec on two felony counts of aggravated assault and five counts of reckless endangerment.

Berry was ordered held without bond in the Westmoreland County Prison.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 25.