Solved case · 2018
Also known as Melcroft, Pennsylvania · Melcroft, PA
The short answer
On January 28, 2018, a man fatally shot four people and himself at a car wash in Melcroft, Pennsylvania, after arranging a fistfight that turned into a mass shooting; a fifth person survived with minor injuries.
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Suggest coverage for 2018 Melcroft Car Wash ShootingIn the early morning of January 28, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Ed's Car Wash in the unincorporated community of Melcroft, in Saltlick Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The shooting left five people dead, including the shooter, and one additional survivor with minor injuries.
According to police accounts reported by Wikipedia, the incident began as what was supposed to be a fistfight between Timothy O'Brien Smith, 28, and William "Billy" Porterfield, 27. Smith had previously been in a relationship with Chelsie Cline, 25, who was at the time dating Porterfield, and Smith reportedly had an ongoing feud with him. Surveillance footage reportedly showed Smith grabbing Porterfield from behind earlier that morning at a nearby bar, the Tall Cedars.
Cline, her half-brother Seth Cline, 21, Porterfield, a friend named Cortney Snyder, 23, and an unidentified woman arrived at the car wash to meet Smith, apparently unaware of what was about to happen. Smith arrived wearing a body armor carrier without ballistic panels and armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a .308-caliber rifle, and a 9mm handgun.
Smith opened fire using the AR-15 and the 9mm handgun. He first shot and killed Cline and Porterfield in the car wash's parking lot as they exited their sedan. He then killed Snyder and Seth Cline as they sat in a pickup truck. A woman who was also in the vehicle survived after being taken to the hospital. Three vehicles — two pickup trucks and a sedan — were towed from the scene.
Smith, identified by police as the shooter, then turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. He initially survived the self-inflicted gunshot wound but died at a hospital just before 10:00 p.m. that same day. An autopsy confirmed that all four fatal victims had been shot multiple times.
At the time, this shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in 2018, a distinction it held for seventeen days until it was surpassed by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Shooting occurs at Ed's Car Wash in Melcroft, Pennsylvania, just before 3:00 a.m.; four people are killed and one is injured.
Timothy O'Brien Smith, identified by police as the shooter who then shot himself, dies at a hospital just before 10:00 p.m.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
25-year-old woman shot and killed in the car wash parking lot.[3]
23-year-old woman shot and killed while sitting in a pickup truck.[3]
21-year-old man, half-brother of Chelsie Cline, shot and killed while sitting in a pickup truck.[3]
27-year-old man shot and killed in the car wash parking lot.[3]
Identified by Pennsylvania State Police as the 28-year-old gunman who shot four people at Ed's Car Wash in Melcroft on 28 January 2018; he died the same day of a gunshot wound investigators believe was self-inflicted, so no charge was ever brought — prosecution was prevented by his death.[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
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