Man faces charges in New Castle shooting

One of the victims told police the shooting suspect is her neighbor.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Police have identified a man charged with shooting at a vehicle full of people.

There were four women and a child in the Ford Explorer during Tuesday afternoon’s shooting on East Lutton Street. The police report does not include information about the child’s gender or age.

Nicholas J. Lauro, 27, of 409 E. Lutton, is charged with five counts of aggravated assault, one count of carrying firearms without a license, five counts of reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm within the city limits. He remained in the Lawrence County jail Wednesday in lieu of $50,000 bond.

When police arrived at the shooting scene Tuesday, two women in the Explorer told police it was parked on the street near Lauro’s home when he began shooting at it from his porch. The driver, a 30-year-old New Castle woman, told police she drove into an alley to avoid the gunfire.

Another witness who was not in the car told police he saw a man firing shots at the car from the porch. Afterward, the man ran into the house.

Another woman in the car told police she is Lauro’s neighbor. She said she got out of the vehicle after the shooting stopped to ask him why he shot at them. He told her he didn’t know it was them and thought someone was trying to break into his house, she told police.

Police briefly formed a perimeter around Lauro’s house and used a public-address system on a cruiser to tell him to come out. After numerous announcements, he came out, the report said.

Police got a search warrant for Lauro’s house, noting a surveillance camera outside. Inside, they found a semiautomatic handgun in an upstairs bedroom with one live round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the magazine. They found two loaded magazines with 14 .40-caliber rounds each. There was other live ammunition found in the room, the report said. On the porch were three spent .40-caliber shell casings and one live .40-caliber round.