News

2 killed in shooting at Etna apartment; suspect detained by neighbor

ETNA, Pa. — A neighbor helped detain a suspect in a double murder after a shooting Friday morning inside an Etna apartment building, police said.

Authorities were called to Vilsack Street shortly after 7 a.m.

"Something happened up there (in the apartment), and one person shot the other two,” Allegheny County police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said.%

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Don Cox, a resident of the apartment complex, said he approached unit 303 with his 12-gauge shotgun in hand after he heard screaming and shots fired.

“There I found a young lady in the middle of the living room floor dead. Fellow on the couch dead and the shooter standing in the middle of his apartment, covered in blood,” Cox said.

He said he forced the alleged shooter, identified by police as Joshua Huber, 30, to the ground and held him at gunpoint until officers arrived.

“I stuck a 12-gauge in his face and made him get on the floor. It's hard to argue with a 12-gauge,” Cox said.

According to investigators, Huber lived in the apartment and had partied all night with three friends when an argument escalated to gunfire. Huber told police that he got into an argument with his two friends over $40 that was missing.

“He was telling them to get out, get out, get out, and they wouldn't,” Cox said.

Police said at that point Huber fatally shot the victims, whom the medical examiner identified as Melissa Zuk, 22, of McCandless Township and Derek Schindler, 30, of Glenshaw. Authorities said a second woman, who was not hurt during the shooting, was found passed out in the apartment.

Investigators said Huber, who claimed self-defense when being led out of the police station Friday, told them three different versions of how the shooting happened. He told police he, Schindler, Zuk and the second woman were in his apartment, drinking and smoking marijuana.

Huber told officers arguments over the missing money escalated and turned physical, leading him to shoot Zuk first and then her boyfriend, Schindler, multiple times.

Police said they found a 9-millimeter and seven spent shell casings inside the apartment.

Huber, who was honorably discharged from the Army, faces two counts of homicide.

Police said no charges would be filed against Cox, saying he did a good job in detaining Huber.