Monroeville man charged after woman is shot in road-rage incident on Pa. Turnpike

A Monroeville man who police say shot a woman Sunday during a road-rage incident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike attempted to thwart investigators by hiding a 9 mm handgun in the trunk of his car.

Andrew Michael Skinner, 30, shot the woman after investigators say she accidentally drifted into his lane at milepost 74. Both were driving east near New Stanton at 2:19 p.m.

Skinner accelerated up to the left side of the woman’s car and fired one round into her vehicle, Trooper Daniel Poponick said. The bullet pierced the driver’s side door and struck the 38-year-old woman, whom police did not publicly identify, in the stomach. She gave troopers a description of the suspect’s vehicle while they rendered aid until an ambulance arrived to take her to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville.

Her condition could not be determined Monday.

Skinner exited the toll road at the Somerset interchange at milepost 110, where he refueled and tossed the handgun police say he used in the shooting in the car’s trunk, Poponick said. Skinner got back on the highway traveling eastbound, where his silver 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt was spotted four miles later by Trooper Levi Dively, police said in court documents.

After being stopped by troopers, Skinner consented to a vehicle search, where “a pistol magazine was located in the glove box of the vehicle and Skinner related there was a handgun in the trunk,” court documents indicate.

He was taken to the state police barracks in Greensburg and questioned.

“Skinner explained he became angry because he had been run off the road in the past. Skinner then armed himself with the 9mm Baretta handgun and fired a single shot toward (the other) vehicle while traveling eastbound,” Poponick wrote in court documents.

Skinner told police that he saw the other driver pull over on the right shoulder of the highway.

Skinner was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, propelling a missile into an occupied vehicle, reckless endangering and illegal possession of a firearm without a concealed weapon permit.

During his brief video arraignment, Skinner told East Huntingdon District Judge Charles Moore he moved from Phoenix to Monroeville about five months ago and also has lived in Ohio.

Skinner said he intends to ask for a public defender to represent him.

Moore set bail at $250,000. Skinner remains in the county jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Dec. 1.