Swissvale man accused of firing shot at couple inside Monroeville home

A Swissvale man is accused of firing a shot at a couple in the kitchen of a Monroeville home late Saturday night.

Monroeville police filed several charges against Darnell Maurice Nelson, 31, including five counts of recklessly endangering another person, two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and carrying a firearm without a license.

Nelson is not allowed to possess a firearm because he pleaded guilty to a drug offense in 2012.

Nelson was denied bail when he was arraigned Sunday and placed in the Allegheny County Jail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Feb. 26 before District Judge Jeffrey L. Herbst.

Monroeville officers responded shortly before midnight to a home in the 500 block of Sunnyfield Drive. Upon arriving, police ordered the people inside to come out at gunpoint, according to a criminal complaint against Nelson.

A woman who called 911 and her boyfriend came out first. After several minutes, Nelson and a woman came out with a 6-month-old child in a carrier, according to the complaint.

The couple said they were in the kitchen when Nelson pulled out a gun, said, “I’m doing what I should have been doing,” pointed it at them and fired one shot, according to the complaint.

Police said the couple ran upstairs, locked themselves in a room and called 911.

The gun was found inside a backpack being carried by the woman with Nelson, the complaint said. She claimed the gun was hers, but it was registered to another person, police said.

Police found one spent shell casing in the kitchen matching the bullets recovered with the firearm, the complaint said. There was a bullet hole through a cabinet and into the wall in the kitchen, police said.

In addition to the 6-month-old, three other children, ages 9 months, 5 and 15 , were in the house at the time, according to the complaint.