MERCER COUNTY Teen arrested in vehicle shootings

The teen just shrugged his shoulders when asked why he did it.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police say a Commodore Perry High School senior has admitted firing a rifle into the rear of cars passing the house he had rented in Perry Township.
Timothy R. Lackey, 19, Hadley Road, Clarks Mills, was arrested Thursday afternoon on two counts each of felony recklessly endangering another person, misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person, misdemeanor simple assault and misdemeanor propulsion of a missile into a vehicle.
He was arraigned before District Justice Ruth French who ordered him held in Mercer County Jail in lieu of $15,000 secured bond.
No one was injured, but police said at least two vehicles -- a minivan and a car -- were hit in the rear Saturday night as they drove along Pa. Route 358 through the Clarks Mills area.
Court documents filed in the case said that Lackey and a 15-year-old juvenile boy shot at cars with a .22-caliber rifle Friday and Saturday night from the window of the home Lackey had rented at the corner of Airport Road and Route 358.
Admitted involvement
The documents say that Lackey admitted his involvement and that of the juvenile and said he shot at passenger cars, a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer, aiming at their taillights and rear areas.
Police said the juvenile hasn't been charged, but the investigation into his involvement is continuing.
Troopers led Lackey, wearing a black 2004 Commodore Perry sweat shirt, blue jeans and a red baseball cap, into French's office in handcuffs and took him immediately to jail after arraignment.
As he was being led to a waiting police car, reporters asked Lackey if he was trying to imitate other sniper shootings reported in the news.
"No," was his reply.
He just shrugged his shoulders when asked why he had done it.
French said Lackey could face up to 20 years in prison on each felony count and between two and five years on each of the misdemeanor charges.
Seeking more information
Police think more vehicles may have been hit and ask that anyone who was driving in the area Friday and Saturday night and noticed a loud bang or found a bullet hole in their vehicle to contact the state police barracks in Mercer.
Police said they learned of the shootings Monday when Clyde Roberts of Grove City called to report he had heard a loud bang while driving through that area around 8:15 p.m. Saturday and later found a bullet hole in the rear hatch gate of his minivan.
Police recovered a lead bullet from his van.
The case grew Wednesday when police were called by Linda Tuzynski of Clarks Mills who reported she had been driving in the same area Saturday and heard a loud bang and later found a bullet hole in the trunk of her car.
Police said those two shootings occurred within a 30-minute period.