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BEDFORD -- A Milwaukee man who was allegedly involved in an exchange of gunfire in Schellsburg during a Black Lives Matter march in 2020 had his charges bound over for court during a preliminary hearing Wednesday at the Bedford County Courthouse.
Orsino Von Thurman, 38, appeared Wednesday morning after being extradited last week from Illinois. On Jan. 13, he was arraigned on felony charges of aggravated assault with attempts to cause bodily injury with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm prohibited along with misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and summary harassment.
During Wednesday's court proceedings, Magisterial District Judge Brian Baker upheld all of the charges against Thurman and also maintained the $350,000 bail set last week.
The Central Court proceeding was moved from Everett to the courthouse for the high profile case.
District Attorney Lesley Childers-Potts said additional security was on hand for the hearing due to the emotion on both sides of the issue. Armed guards could be seen on the roof of the courthouse complex.
Childers-Potts said the county and state police wanted to ensure the safety of all involved.
Three witnesses called by Childers-Potts testified at the hearing, including the Schellsburg man accused of firing at the crowd of demonstrators from Milwaukee, who were on their way to Washington, D.C.
Terry Myers, 52, who was charged in the Aug. 24 incident, his father, Elmer Myers, 77, and investigating State Police Trooper Adam Zinn answered questions from the defense and district attorney during the hearing that lasted more than two hours.
The defense did not call any witnesses of its own but questioned the witnesses.
Both Myers spoke of the events of Aug. 24, 2020, in detail.
Gathered at garage
The elder Myers, who testified first, recalled how he watched people and cars gather in the parking lot of his garage business, located across the street from his home along Route 30 in Schellsburg.
Elmer Myers said his dog barked at the window, initially drawing his attention outside. Myers said the headlights of three cars were illuminating his front porch, with a total of 10-12 cars in the lot. He noted that it's usually dark at night in the rural town, as there are no street lights and the only lights are those of passing cars and a security light in his parking lot.
He said he watched through his window for 45 minutes before yelling at the people to leave three or four times.
Myers estimated there were 25-30 people gathered in the lot and when no one responded, he called the state police.
He testified that police told him troopers could not respond to his Juniata Township residence right away and that he should call back if the group leaves.
Elmer Myers said he decided to call his son, Terry, who lives nearby, to tell him about the group. Terry Myers arrived with a gun and fired warning shots, joining in his father's effort to get the group to vacate the property. Elmer Myers said some of the crowd began to disperse after his son fired the initial two shots, and the two stood behind his pickup truck and yelled at the group to leave.
He said there were then a couple of "flashes" and that his son then shot in the direction of the flashes.
At that time, the remainder of the people and vehicles departed, leaving only one SUV with two men lying beside the car saying "don't shoot, don't shoot," Elmer Myers testified. The elder Myers said the two were nice people, one of them was a preacher and asked what they were doing.
Troopers arrive
Police showed up after the crowd was gone, sometime around midnight, according to police reports.
When Thurman's defense attorney, Turahn Jenkins, a Pittsburgh-based lawyer, asked Elmer Myers about his own use of firearms, Myers said he has them, including a high-powered rifle but chose not to bring them out. Myers also said he did not instruct his son to bring a gun when he called for help.
Terry Myers, who was not present during his father's testimony, said the night began with his wife waking him up at their home. Terry lives about an eighth of a mile away from his father's home on the opposite side of the road. It is about a five-minute walk down an access road that the family often drives ATVs and tractors on, he testified.
When Childers-Potts asked what made Terry Myers decide to go, Terry said his wife relayed a panicked message from his father. "Dad needs you and is in a panic," he quoted his wife, adding that she said there were "protesters like on TV."
"Dad doesn't get that way unless something is going on," Terry Myers said.
Terry Myers got dressed and grabbed his shotgun, later explaining that the reaction is common for those living in the mountain area.
He walked down the access road and up a small hill, where he saw his father's lit-up porch, noting that it is not typical, before seeing people and cars near the garage and road.
Terry Myers said there were at least three people looking in his father's business/garage with flashlights. He said he yelled from 30 feet away, but they did not respond.
The defense asked if Terry could say that he knew if the crowd could hear him, to which he responded, "I can't say they did or didn't." He said he fired two shots into the air and yelled for the group to "Get the f— out of here" in a self-described loud and angry manner.
Myers said his first shot did not really catch any attention and he yelled six to 12 times. The three people looking into the garage ran and got into vehicles, while Terry crossed the street to meet his father.
Terry said his father said he told them to leave and had called the police, prompting Terry to make his own phone call. "You need to get somebody here now," Terry Myers said he told police. Later in his testimony, Terry Myers said the Bedford state police barracks is about 20 miles away.
Stayed behind truck
After Terry's phone call to police, he said he and his father stood behind Elmer's pickup truck when he saw "two flashes" that he believed to be gunfire coming from the crowd. Terry Myers said he shot at the flash, resulting in the crowd getting into their cars and driving west toward Somerset County. Myers said he set the gun on the toolbox of the truck and state police pulled up minutes later.
Childers-Potts asked why he fired in response to the flashes, Terry Myers said, "Because I was shot at. I thought, 'We're gonna die tonight.'"
While he said he's never been shot at, Terry said he has shot enough guns to know a muzzle flash.
Both Myerses reported damage to Elmer's truck, a dent on the bumper that was about 3 feet from the father and son. Terry said he had never seen it before, as his father takes great pride in keeping the vehicle in good condition.
A member of the public gallery was crying and shaking during both men's testimonies.
The judge dismissed Terry and called state police Trooper Adam Zinn.
Zinn was called to the scene by the responding troopers as part of the criminal investigation unit on Aug. 24 since there was a shooting.
Zinn said he arrived around 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 25 and saw the shotgun on the truck, the dented bumper and a 9 mm pistol laying in the roadway on the center yellow lines. Zinn said he took Terry Myers to the barracks and forensics took the gun.
Treated for wounds
Meanwhile, other troopers were dispatched to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, where Thurman was being treated for gunshot wounds. DNA and forensic testing would match his blood to that on the gravel, roadway, gun and magazine clip, according to police.
Troopers found two 9 mm casings in the parking lot near the roadway across from where the Myers were standing. Zinn said the casings and described location of the flash were relatively close.
The trooper also said the lack of damage, injuries or witnesses saying they were shot at could support Terry's testimony of shooting in the air. However, there was no physical evidence on scene that indicated the direction. The shotgun casings did confirm Terry's path of travel up the access road, he said. Zinn explained that the direction Terry shot would have been south, which is an unpopulated, wooded area, with the closest residence a half mile away. Based on the forensic analysis, Zinn did not believe the two initial shots were fired into the crowd.
Facebook Live and other social media videos greatly aided in the investigation, according to Zinn. Police received 10-15 video submissions, and while some were duplicates, officers were able to confirm information in witness testimonies.
Zinn said Terry Myers is heard "voicing his concerns" of wanting people to leave six times in one of the videos. A voice identified as Thurman can also be heard saying, "We're leaving, there's no need to be violent," before the handgun shots. Zinn said all of the gunshots can be heard and differentiated in the videos.
There were two shotgun blasts, a conversation where Terry Myers is heard and two pistol shots immediately followed by a shotgun blast, according to Zinn. He said there was 47 seconds between the second warning shot and the first pistol shot. The final handgun shot was followed by the shotgun blast a couple of seconds later.
A bullet hole in the garage didn't match the 9 mm handgun found on the road, but the fired bullet matched the gun, a confirmation provided by a Greensburg forensic lab.
Charges held
After the testimony wrapped up, Jenkins asked for the defiant trespassing summary offense against Thurman to be dismissed. He also sought a bail reduction, noting that $350,000 "is excessive" for the circumstances.
The Bedford DA argued that the bail is reasonable because of Thurman's previous record and all of the efforts prosecutors went through to get him back to Pennsylvania.
"We had to take substantial efforts to get him back to Bedford County," Childers-Potts said, noting multiple instances of bench warrants being issued in different jurisdictions. The judge agreed and held all charges for court and maintained the bail.
After the hearing ended, Thurman's attorney said he wasn't surprised that the court held the charges.
"All charges were held, which I'm not surprised based upon the low threshold of proof the commonwealth has to establish at a preliminary hearing. So we're looking forward to our day in court at trial," Jenkins said. "I just think that this is an unfortunate case because it could have been avoided. I think that if people were to communicate and have actual conversations with one another, things like this would never happen."
Childers-Potts wrote in an email Wednesday night that she was pleased with the outcome of the proceedings.
"All the cases we prosecute are a team effort, but this case is especially that way. There was a tremendous amount of work done by several members of the Pennsylvania State Police and my office has also worked diligently to seek justice and obtain a favorable outcome. We will continue to work together toward those goals," she wrote.
The case will proceed through the courts.
Terry Myers originally faced more than 40 charges in the incident, but after a preliminary hearing in June 2021, most of the charges were either withdrawn or dismissed.
Myers will still head to trial in April on several misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and a summary harassment offense.