GREENSBURG —
A Westmoreland County man fired 17 shots at state troopers who surrounded his house after he allegedly refused to come out when they responded to a drunken domestic dispute, police said.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for 44-year-old Daniel Lee Ryan, of Hempfield Township, who was jailed unable to post $500,000 bond.
He is charged with 17 counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
Nobody was hurt, and Ryan also was charged with terroristic threats for allegedly causing a “serious public inconvenience.”
Among other things, police had to shut nearby Route 66 because of concerns about the gunfire.
Ryan surrendered early Friday after keeping troopers at bay for hours. They arrived at his house after his wife ran to a neighbor’s home to call 911 about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, telling police Ryan was drunk and threatening to kill her.
Police were able to enter the home after firing gas canisters into Ryan’s home.
Ryan was taken to the county jail after telling the district judge who arraigned him, “I’ve never been in trouble in my life.”
Ryan also told the judge, “I have been treated for alcohol issues before,” according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Police said they tried to call Ryan on the phone but he at first refused to answer.
Eventually, Ryan said he wanted to speak with his wife. Police told him he could if he came out of the house and turned on a porch light but, instead, Ryan began to fire a gun at the troopers surrounding his house.
“Several of the troopers related that the shots were landing near their positions and near neighboring houses,” police said in a criminal complaint.
Ryan told the judge he worked as a caseworker for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. A spokeswoman for the agency could not immediately confirm that or otherwise comment on Ryan’s arrest Friday.
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