FREEMANSBURG, Pa. – Authorities charged a man with attempted homicide in a shooting in Northampton County last Friday.
Paul R. Williams, 61, of Dresher, is being charged in the shooting at the 400 block of Clearfield Street, in the area of several businesses in Freemansburg, the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The DA’s office says he fired up to nine gunshots, with one of the bullets hitting the victim’s wrist area.
The Freemansburg Borough Police Department was sent to the area shortly after 4 p.m. to a report of shots fired, the DA’s office says.
The man was treated on scene and then brought to a local hospital for treatment of the gunshot wound, according to the news release.
According to court paperwork, two of the nine rounds that did not hit the man hit a nearby home while a resident was inside. The shooting was not an isolated accidental discharge but involved Williams intentionally firing multiple rounds at the victim, court documents say.
Court paperwork says a witness said he had seen Williams at a restaurant in Bethlehem Friday. Surveillance shooting at the restaurant showed a man who matched the description of the suspect, police said in court documents.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for a nearby hotel he was staying at and found two gloves Williams was seen wearing in surveillance footage from near the scene of the shooting, court documents say.
After a review of surveillance, police said Williams was in the area of the shooting several hours before it happened.
Authorities took Williams into custody at his home in Dresher Monday, the DA’s office says. He was preliminarily arraigned on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and related lesser charges, according to the DA’s office.
Bail was set at $1 million.
The DA’s office says Williams was committed to Northampton County after being unable to post bail.