A Reserve woman remained in critical condition Monday, a day after her on-again, off-again boyfriend allegedly forced his way into her home and shot her multiple times in front of her children, according to Allegheny County Police.
Joseph Hogg, 35, called 911 just after 8:30 p.m. Sunday to report that he’d shot his girlfriend at her home on Spring Garden Avenue, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Reserve police went to the home and found the victim, a 30-year-old woman, with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the complaint. Her son and daughter were in the home with her, police said.
Hogg was not at the scene when police arrived, and Pittsburgh Police were dispatched to help search for him, authorities said. Officers found him in his car on Warren Street in the city’s Fineview neighborhood. He agreed to speak with officers, according to the complaint, and said he’d been in a relationship with the victim and she had been abusive in the past.
He told Pittsburgh officers he’d gone to the Spring Garden Avenue home, blacked out, and then shot the victim three or four times in front of the children, according to the complaint. Later, in an interview with Reserve and Allegheny County police, Hogg said he “rammed” the door of the home and screamed and shot at the woman. Police said Hogg told them he took off and tossed the gun and holster out his car window.
Police said the front door of the victim’s apartment was damaged and the lock was broken. Inside, investigators found spent casings and a bullet.
A detective who interviewed the victim at Allegheny General Hospital said she had “multiple holes in her head, which were believed to be a combination of entry and exit wounds from being shot,” according to the complaint. She’d also been shot in the chest and thigh. She told officers Hogg broke down her door and began shooting.
Hogg is charged with aggravated assault, attempted homicide, burglary and two counts of reckless endangerment. He remains in the Allegheny County Jail, and a judge at Hogg’s preliminary arraignment Monday afternoon denied him bond, calling him “a danger to the victim.”
