Troopers: Mt. Pleasant Township man jailed after shooting woman with gun he thought was empty

A 21-year-old Mt. Pleasant Township man told troopers he thought a gun wasn’t loaded when he pulled its trigger and shot a woman in the back.

Daven Lee Donaldson was jailed on $100,000 bond on multiple assault and firearms charges Thursday. He was arrested after the 2:40 a.m. incident when the woman was dropped off at Excela Health Frick hospital in Mt. Pleasant for treatment, according to court documents.

Trooper Keith Sobecki said the woman’s injury wasn’t life-threatening.

Multiple witnesses, including Donaldson, told troopers that the womanwas driving in the area with four others inside the car when Donaldson, seated behind her, pulled the trigger of a Taurus 9 mm handgun he was holding, according to court documents.

Troopers said the firearm discharged and the bullet travelled through the rear of the driver’s seat, striking the woman in the back.

Prior to the shooting, Donaldson told troopers “that he had stopped along the highway in an unknown location in Westmoreland County and discharged four rounds into a field.”

“… (Donaldson) said he thought the gun was unloaded,” Sobecki said.

Donaldson was located by troopers several blocks away from the hospital parked in a car at a gas station-convenience store on the 200 block of East Main Street, police said.

Donaldson was charged with felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a firearm without a license and misdemeanor counts of discharging a weapon in an occupied structure, reckless endangering and tampering with evidence.

According to online dockets, Donaldson has no prior criminal record in Pennsylvania.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled July 20.

Donaldson did not have an attorney listed in court documents.