Police: East Huntingdon woman charged with homicide in fatal shooting

An East Huntingdon woman was charged with homicide Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of her former boyfriend after police said he tried to break into her bedroom during a domestic dispute.

Megan J. West, 24, told investigators she fired a warning shot about 11:30 p.m. Sunday through the bedroom door after Andrew Pristas, 33, of Greensburg tried to break in, according to a criminal complaint. A second round from a revolver hit him. Pristas was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Whether that was the goal, but unfortunately that bullet struck him in a manner causing him to die,” Trooper Steve Limani said.

Police and the district attorney worked throughout Monday reviewing evidence and “analyzing all of the different facets of how this incident transpired and if there was another way for this to end other than to take a handgun and shoot it at a door where you know someone’s standing behind it,” Limani said.

Staff at Valley High Mobile Home Park, located near Ruffs Dale, declined to comment. A few residents stood outside the Field Stone Lane mobile home on a chilly morning as state troopers walked outside and talked near an evidence van. There are about 50 mobile homes in the park off Route 31 south of New Stanton.

West invited Pristas over Sunday, Limani said. The two weren’t living together, though they had in the past, he said.

West told investigators they started to argue over something on her phone when she asked him to leave and locked herself in her bedroom. Pristas shoved her in the back on her way there, according to court papers.

She told Pristas she had a revolver and would use it while he tried to break down the bedroom door for five to 10 minutes, police said. After firing two shots, West told investigators she opened the door to find Pristas lying on the ground bleeding. She called 911.

Police said West didn’t report any injuries. Pristas was shot once in the body.

The death was ruled a homicide during an autopsy Monday performed by Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and Pathology Associates, according to the coroner’s office. Mason-Gelder Funeral Home in Jeannette is in charge of Pristas’ arrangements.

West was arraigned Monday afternoon. She was ordered held without bail in Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 30. She did not have an attorney listed in online court records.