Erie man accused of pointing stolen gun at woman after attempting to enter her vehicle
A Greene Township woman who said she spotted a person trying to open her parked and unattended vehicle early Monday morning told the Pennsylvania State Police she saw the suspect a few hours later walking along a nearby roadway.
When the woman drove her vehicle next to the man to find out what he had been doing earlier, she said the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at her, according to investigators.
The gun pointed at the woman was stolen from another vehicle earlier that morning, state police troopers wrote in the criminal complaint filed against the suspect, 34-year-old Erie resident Davon D. Stepp.
Stepp is facing a long list of criminal charges in the incident as he awaits preliminary hearings scheduled for Friday on charges in three criminal cases filed by the Erie Bureau of Police. He is accused in two of those cases of entering or attempting to enter vehicles in the city in September and December, according to case documents.
State police said Tuesday that they are looking into whether Stepp might be connected to any other theft from vehicle cases in Erie County.
Encounter leads to gun threat
The 62-year-old woman who reported the gun threat Monday morning was not injured in the incident.
She told state police that, at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, she saw on camera a male wearing black clothing trying the door handles to her vehicle at her residence.
The woman said later that morning, she saw the same male on Jordan Road at its intersection with Kane Hill Road, state police wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with Stepp's criminal complaint. She said she drove next to the male as he headed west on Kane Hill Road, and as she did the male pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her, troopers wrote in the affidavit.
Troopers who responded to the area were told the suspect was last seen heading west on Appleman Road in Millcreek Township. Police searched the area and said they found Stepp in a wooded area behind a residence, and they located a Taurus .40-caliber handgun in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, according to information in the affidavit.
The gun was stolen from a Chevrolet Silverado earlier that morning, troopers wrote in the affidavit.
Investigators said Stepp was also found in possession of a large amount of cash, coins and other property when he was detained.
Stepp was arraigned Monday morning on charges including felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property and carrying a firearm without a license, and on misdemeanor counts including simple assault, possession of a weapon, evading arrest and institutional vandalism. He was placed in the Erie County Prison on $100,000 bond, according to information in his criminal docket sheet.
Earlier cases in Erie
Stepp is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for his preliminary hearings on charges in three Erie police cases.
He faces misdemeanor charges including theft from a vehicle, evading arrest and resisting arrest in an incident from Sept. 29, where police accuse him of going through vehicles in the 1300 block of East 31st Street. Stepp was taken into custody following a foot pursuit, according to information in his criminal complaint.
The other two cases scheduled for court Friday relate to an incident that Erie police allege happened on Dec. 5.
Stepp faces two misdemeanor counts of theft from a motor vehicle in one of the cases. City police detectives accuse him of attempting to enter a locked vehicle and of entering an unlocked vehicle and ransacking it but not taking anything in the 100 block of West 38th Street. The alleged acts were caught on camera, police wrote in the complaint.
Stepp faces charges including misdemeanor counts of evading arrest and disorderly conduct in the second case after police accused him of fleeing from officers on a bicycle, and then on foot, as they attempted to apprehend him in the 3500 block of State Street about an hour after the incident on West 38th Street, according to information in the complaint.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie man charged with pointing stolen gun at woman in Greene Township
