It was on March 12 of this year, when residents, on the 300 block of Plank Road, in Quemahoning Township, heard a gun shot ring out. Nearby witnesses say they saw someone leaving the scene in a U-Haul truck, shortly after. State police confirming someone was shot during an altercation at a neighbor’s house.
The mother of the man who was shot, Carol Cinko, says her son is making a swift recovery from the incident. She says she, her son, and another person, came to help move her things out of her ex’s home. She says she noticed things were missing and knocked on the front door to ask where they were. She says an argument ensued.
“My son told him to not talk to me like that because he was cursing at me and just screaming and yelling at me and he told him don’t talk to my mom like that.” says Cinko. She then says her son and her ex got into a physical altercation. A bullet was shot right into her son’s chest.
She says her ex threatened them if they didn’t get off his property. She says her son and she drove down the road, where an ambulance took him to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center. Cinko says state police pulled over the U-Haul van that she was in. “They pulled us out guns blazing on us, like we did something wrong. The police have completely let us down in this. There were never even any pending charges on this man. He never spent one hour in jail. What did he even need a gun for?” Cinko says. She tells me she is still trying to get the rest of her things from his home.
Acting Somerset District Attorney Molly Metzgar says it’s Cinko’s family who were in the wrong. “The assailants are going to be charged with the assault on the homeowner. You can rest assured that justification of self defense is alive and well in Somerset County.”