COLLIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The case against the suspect accused of shooting a woman that they didn’t know in the parking lot of a busy Texas Roadhouse in Collier Township is moving downtown and possibly toward trial.
August Poole is accused of shooting a woman on July 28 after what court documents say was a fight over a cell phone video. That video has not been made public, but Poole’s lawyer, Michael Foglia, says his client acted in self-defense. He says Poole was holding a baby, less than a year old in their arms at the time of the shooting.
“[They were] the one with the child,” Foglia said. “[They] had nothing to do with it at all, [they were] walking into the restaurant when they came after [them].”
Foglia says the victim might have held up something like mace that Poole believed to be a deadly weapon.
“She was coming after [them],” Foglia added. “Don’t forget [they] called 911, made the report that [they were] just involved in a shooting in self-defense. [They] stayed at the scene until the police arrived.”
Foglia says his client has no criminal record and has a license to carry, but the victim’s family says this case isn’t self-defense.
“If you feel like you can’t fight, and you have a license to carry a gun, you don’t need a gun,” Bernice Burrell, the victim’s grandmother tells Channel 11. “It makes me devastated, what kind of person shoots someone with a baby in their arms?”
The victim has already endured four surgeries and even had a breathing tube at one point. Her grandmother says she has quite a road to recovery ahead of her.
“Thank god - god spared her life, yes he did,” Burrell said.
This case will be before a judge downtown on Nov. 17.
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