Police: Fight Between Friends Escalated Into Tremont Shooting Incident

Court documents show what led to the alleged attempted homicide incident in Tremont early Wednesday morning.

Police say in their affidavit of probable cause that a fight between friends escalated to the point where Derek Weaver, 28, of Tremont, shot at a vehicle driven by the victim.

Weaver was apparently mad that the victim had been talking to his girlfriend for the past year or so. They’d been “going back and forth” with each other over this during that time, police relate. The situation apparently came to a head on W. Laurel St. in Tremont at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday when Weaver’s and the victim’s vehicles were lined up parallel on the street at that time.

Police say Weaver got out of his vehicle, a teal Lincoln Town Car, and approached the victim’s pickup truck, a white Ford Ranger. Weaver reportedly said that he was initially going to punch the victim in the face but when the victim pinched him between the two vehicles, he grabbed a shotgun from his vehicle and took a shot in the air to scare him away.

The victim’s vehicle was hit with the single shot fired by Weaver, police say. The rear tailgate and window were hit and the rear window was smashed. Shattered glass was observed inside the cabin of the truck, police say, and the victim’s ear was hit by either a pellet from the shotgun shell or shattered glass.

Investigation Details

According to police, the victim was interviewed following the incident at the State Police-Schuylkill Haven barracks. The victim reportedly said he saw Weaver driving his teal Town Car on Sweet Arrow Lake Road in Pine Grove Township prior to the incident and followed him into Tremont.

The victim said that once in Tremont, he passed by Weaver’s girlfriend’s residence and kept going east on W. Laurel St. before turning around, then going west. He said Weaver was then headed east at that time and they stopped next to each other.

That’s when Weaver, according to what the victim told police, got out of his vehicle with a shotgun in his hands. When he saw the shotgun, the victim told police he sped away as Weaver fired a shot in his direction, hitting his truck.

On Wednesday, police say they interviewed Weaver’s girlfriend who said she got a phone call from him at about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. Weaver wanted her to pick him up at friend’s house down the street. On the call, Weaver reportedly told his girlfriend that he “fu**** up” and that it involved the victim.

After the girlfriend picked up Weaver at his friend’s house, Weaver reportedly said he wanted to go to their new apartment in Donaldson and that he needed to get out of town. The girlfriend did not comply with that request and Weaver then changed his clothes, she said, and he left, saying he needed to get out of town before the cops showed up. He then reportedly walked down the street and then came back home. When he got back home again, Weaver reportedly told his girlfriend that he “fu**** up” and shot a gun. They then both went to bed.

The victim, according to police, called the girlfriend shortly before 5 a.m. Wednesday. She told police that the victim had told her that Weaver shot his truck and that he got hit with a pellet in the ear.

Throughout the early part of Wednesday, the girlfriend told police that she then had three calls with Weaver. Weaver reportedly told her that his vehicle is parked behind where Randazzo’s Pizza shop used to be located and said “It needs to go.” He also told his girlfriend that he got rid of the gun he used to shoot at the victim’s vehicle but did not say where it is.

Also on the calls, Weaver’s girlfriend said he provided another story as to how things unfolded earlier that day.

Weaver reportedly said on these phone calls that prior to their confrontation, he’d heard the victim’s truck outside so he went out to smoke a cigarette. He said the victim drove his truck back and forth in front of their apartment. That’s when Weaver said he got into his vehicle and decided to follow the victim.

As the victim drove back up the street, Weaver said he turned his vehicle lights on and that the victim almost hit his vehicle so he got out of his vehicle. He then said that the victim “smashed into his car door” and pinned him between both vehicles. That’s when he got his shotgun out of his vehicle and fired a shot as the victim drove away.

Weaver reportedly said on these calls that he didn’t shoot at the victim’s truck, rather that he shot in the air toward the street to scare him away and leave him alone. Originally, he said on the calls, that he was going to punch the victim in the face but decided to grab his gun after getting pinched between the vehicles.

Police say video evidence collected from around the scene of the reported shooting shows Weaver in his vehicle traveling in the opposite direction toward the victim’s vehicle on W. Laurel St. The vehicles come to a stop in the street with their front fenders aligned. Weaver is then seen getting out of his car and get a shotgun he had in the vehicle. The victim is then seen driving past Weaver as Weaver is grabbing the gun. Weaver then fires a single shot in the direction of the victim’s vehicle as it drove away.

Weaver has been charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, reckless endangerment, two counts of simple assault, possession of an instrument of crime, driving on a DUI-suspended license, and operating a vehicle with an expired inspection.

He was arraigned before District Magistrate Judge James Reiley on Wednesday night and remanded to Schuylkill County Prison on $75,000 bail, which hasn’t been posted.

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