Warrant: Intruder was shot 3 times in Port Carbon incident
Feb. 9—PORT CARBON — An intruder shot by a property owner in the borough early Tuesday suffered three gunshot wounds, including one to the spine.
Those and other details of the 1:35 a.m. incident are included in a search warrant issued that day by Magisterial District Judge David A. Plachko.
The warrant, requested by state police criminal investigator Trooper Justin Bedford of the Schuylkill Haven station, outlined the events that occurred at 222 Second St.
In a press release Tuesday, state police said a person burglarizing an unoccupied property was shot by the property owner.
The warrant identifies the shooter as Vincent Yakaitis and the intruder as Dennis Powanda Jr.
According to the warrant:
Pottsville police Cpl. Jonathan Randolph was the first to arrive and found Powanda lying on his left side on Morris Street, with Yakaitis and his wife standing nearby.
When Randolph asked where the shooter was, Yakaitis said that he was the shooter.
Bedford said Randolph saw a spot on Powanda's back that appeared to be blood and that Yakaitis made a statement saying he shot the man in the leg.
Randolph saw the handle of a firearm in Yakaitis' right coat pocket, and Pottsville police Sgt. Renee Truscott and Minersville police Patrolman Tim Walsh arrived and took the man into custody.
Randolph took the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield .45 caliber handgun and also found a extra magazine in Yakaitis' pocket.
Yakaitis then reported there was a second firearm that was on the edge of the property. That weapon was identified as a Beretta Model 92FS 9 mm handgun, the weapon used to shoot Powanda.
Bedford said Yakaitis made statements while he was in custody that someone broke into his residence and that he was having trouble there recently. The man also said when he saw Powanda, the man came at him and charged him.
Yakaitis and his wife reside in Palo Alto.
Around 2 a.m., troopers Jordan Mroczka and Joshua Yates of the Frackville station arrived and took the weapon.
Powanda was treated at the scene and then flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest for treatment of one gunshot wound to his abdomen, one to his right flank and one to his spine, Bedford said.
Bedford said a neighbor told police he went to bed around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and about five minutes later heard a single gunshot outside.
Looking out his window, he saw two people engaged in what he called horseplay and two or three minutes later heard more gunshots, three or four total, the neighbor said.
As of Thursday, no charges had been filed at Plachko's office in Port Carbon against either Vincent Yakaitis or Powanda.
A number of law enforcement personnel were on the scene Tuesday morning at 222 Second St. before leaving about 10:30 a.m. Neighbors told a reporter that morning that they heard screaming and three or four gunshots. One neighbor said no one had lived at the property for years.
State police Trooper David Boehm, public information officer for Troop L, Reading, could not be reached for comment Thursday on the status of the investigation.
Schuylkill County District Attorney Michael A. O'Pake said Thursday that his office has been contacted regarding the shooting but that a lot of investigatory work was still needed, including an interview with Powanda.
"This is still in its infancy," O'Pake said of the investigation.
