Man charged in Dry Tavern standoff thought ‘armed ninjas’ and Deadpool were burglarizing home
{child_flags:editors_pick}Warrant issued for man in Dry Tavern standoff
{child_byline}By Trista Thurston
Staff writer
tthurston@observer-reporter.com
{/child_byline}
{child_flags:editors_pick}Warrant issued for man in Dry Tavern standoff
{child_byline}By Trista Thurston
Staff writer
tthurston@observer-reporter.com
{/child_byline}
An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who caused a SWAT police response at his Dry Tavern home last year after he fired shots from his rooftop when he thought “armed ninjas” and the comic book character Deadpool were breaking into his home.
John Pochron III, 31, of 980 N. Eighty-Eight Road, was charged Thursday with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest.
Pochron and his girlfriend, Holly Bercosky, both were hospitalized for evaluations after the May 30 incident that prompted state police to close Route 88 in Dry Tavern for hours.
At about noon that day, state police received a report of a man in the 900 block of North Eighty-Eight Road shooting from a rooftop. A Cumberland Township police officer was nearby and heard the shots. When he went outside, he saw Pochron shooting into his home from the roof. Pochron then jumped off the roof and ran across Route 88 carrying a woman later identified as Bercosky.
Police initially responded to what they believed to be an active shooter situation and found Pochron and Bercosky running from their home where the shots were fired. Pochron told police several people they did not know broke in and chased them to an upstairs bedroom. The two were able to escape by climbing on the roof.
A state police specialized response team wearing paramilitary uniforms and body armor surrounded the house, thinking someone was still inside. When troopers entered, they found no one and no signs of a break-in. However, there were multiple bullet holes found inside the house.
Bercosky had not been charged in connection with the incident as of Monday afternoon.
Police said Pochron was “irate, combative and uncooperative and had to be (Tasered) in order to be placed under arrest,” according to court documents.
Pochron had 0.71 grams of crack cocaine and a crack pipe when he was arrested, police said.
State police later interviewed Pochron about the incident and he told investigators he and Bercosky were in their home when “five to six individuals broke in and demanded money.”
Pochron explained the “robbers had blood red eyes and were dressed like ninjas except for one robber who was dressed like Deadpool,” according to court documents.
Pochron said the “heavily armed ninjas” chased him and his girlfriend to their upstairs bedroom and Pochron began to shoot at them with an AR-15 assault rifle, police said. He was unsure if he hit any of the imaginary robbers when he climbed out a window onto the roof and “continued to engage the would-be robbers who dressed like ninjas and a comic book character.”
Pochron told police he and Bercosky had done some cocaine the previous night and into the morning but “was absolutely telling the truth regarding the robbers who were still inside his house,” the criminal complaint said.
Police did not find anyone when they searched the home and no one was injured during the incident.