Man shot by police after threatening patrons, shooting into Monongahela bar

MONONGAHELA, Pa. — A man is facing charges after police say he fired shots into a bar in Monongahela early Saturday morning.

According to Pennsylvania State Police, Jonathan Toth, 49, of Jefferson Hills, was at Main Street Tavern at around 12:30 a.m. when he and his wife got into an argument with other bar patrons.

Dave Ekves, the owner of Main Street Tavern, told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek the argument was over a game of pool.

Police say Toth threatened the other patrons and he and his wife left, saying he was going to get a knife and “gut everybody.” He returned with a .22 caliber rifle a short time later, shot once into the rear window of a 2023 Dodge Ram and then shot four times into the occupied bar through the rear door.

“It’s just a real mess. It’s just unbelievable,” Ekves said. “We never have any problems here.”

According to state police, Toth got into his car and started to leave when a Monongahela police officer approached on foot. The officer gave Toth multiple verbal commands which were ignored.

The officer fired one round at Toth, which hit him on the right side of his body, state police said.

Toth fled the scene, which caused a short vehicle pursuit with police. He eventually stopped on state Route 136 in Forward Township, where he was removed from his car and provided medical care, state police said.

Dave Boyce, who lives nearby, heard two of the gunshots but was stunned when he learned what happened.

“Yeah wow...I didn’t know all of that went down, I only heard the two,” Boyce said. “Holy moly.”

At first, he thought the gunshots were fireworks, then he saw the heavy police presence. He’s glad police were able to quickly spring into action.

“I’m glad nobody was hurt in the bar,” Boyce said.

Ekves is glad too, saying he’s thankful for his employees’ quick thinking, throwing Toth out and locking the door. He said he had never seen Toth in his bar before and wants people to know this was an isolated incident hoping it wouldn’t affect his livelihood.

“I have a really good food business too. Hopefully, it won’t hurt it,” Ekves said. “My normal regulars, I’m sure they’re not scared because they know they can come in here and be pretty much safe.”

Toth is still in the hospital, according to the state police.

Toth is facing dozens of charges, including multiple counts of criminal attempted homicide, recklessly endangering another person, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm and discharge of a weapon into an occupied structure.

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