Avella man faces hearing on attempted homicide charge
An Avella man faces a hearing later this month on charges including attempted homicide after he allegedly struck another man in the head with a metal pipe during a confrontation early Saturday in the parking lot of American Legion Post 907 in Taylorstown.
Victor L. Simonelli, 30, of 20 Reed Road, also is charged by state police with aggravated and simple assault in the reported attack on Greg Sloan in the lot at 84 Main St., Blaine Township. Police did not indicate a motive for the assault in court documents or provide an age or address for Sloan.
The post’s bartender told police she left the club through a back door and saw Sloan and another man inside a pickup truck. She and her boyfriend told the two they would have to leave the property.
When the truck did not leave after a few minutes, the bartender and her boyfriend again told them to go. The other man got out of the truck and reportedly punched the bartender’s boyfriend, knocking him to ground.
As the bartender helped him up, she heard a woman screaming. That woman, identified as Sloan’s girlfriend, was on the ground on her back with Sloan’s head on her stomach.
The bartender said she saw Simonelli hitting Sloan on the back and possibly his head with a metal pipe.
She also told police that Simonelli had a baseball bat, but that she had taken it from him.
Simonelli then left in his vehicle, and the woman identified as Sloan’s girlfriend left in a separate vehicle. Sloan was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment of a head injury. Police indicated in court documents that he was initially on life support.
State police did not indicate if additional people will be charged.
Simonelli was arraigned before District Judge Jay Weller and placed in Washington County Jail on $50,000 bond. He is scheduled for an April 11 preliminary hearing before District Judge Ethan Ward.