AMBRIDGE, Pa. — A man is being held in the Beaver County jail without bond after police say he took a pump out of the tank of a woman’s car as she was getting gas and sprayed her and another woman with gasoline.
Police arrested Shamar Lewallen of York, Pa., on Saturday at the Ambridge Express Marathon station on Merchant Street around 7 p.m. for reports of a man and woman fighting. When they got on scene, they said they had two women and a man at gunpoint; one of the women had a gun.
Police say that woman fired a “warning shot” inside the store after Lewallen chased her back inside and was pushing and grabbing her.
“You see stuff like that in the movies, but man, you never think it’s going to happen in your hometown,” said Greg Firkaly, who lives nearby.
Before the attack, the two women had entered the station to pay for fuel and observed Lewallen “wasn’t acting right” and was crying, police said. The women told investigators Lewallen said he wanted to kill someone.
After the women walked outside to pump gas, police said Lewallen left the store and confronted them. He removed the fuel nozzle from the women’s vehicle and sprayed both women with gasoline.
“Geez man, you know he does that to random women, I mean, who else? You never know,” Firkaly said. “If it ignited, the whole place could have went up. The whole block could have went up.”
The women ran back into the building, and police said Lewallen chased them, and was grabbing and pushing one of them.
The other woman grabbed a windshield squeegee and hit him, police said, trying to get him to stop.
The woman who was being chased then pulled out a gun and fired a warning shot into the ground, sending the bullet ricocheting into the bottom of a display shelf.
“I’m just glad everyone’s alright,” Firkaly said.
The store cashier spoke with Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek off camera. He said he ran outside when he saw the gun and called 911.
The cashier told Channel 11 that Lewallen had come into the store several times earlier that day, including one visit that lasted more than an hour, leading the cashier to lock the door to keep him out.
The cashier told police that he did not understand why Lewallen attacked the women, saying they were being kind to him and asked if he was okay when they saw him crying inside.
“Mental health is an important thing, man,” Firkaly said.
Lewallen is being held in the Beaver County Jail without bond; police said he is a threat to the public.
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