New Kensington woman charged with firing gun into occupied hotel room in Harmar

Police arrested a New Kensington woman at a Harmar hotel last week after, they say, she fired a gun inside her hotel room during an argument and a bullet went into another occupied hotel room.

Angelia Anderina Waszkiewicz, 30, remained in the Allegheny County Jail on Monday afternoon after failing to post $20,000 bond, according to online court records.

She is charged with one felony count of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, according to court records. She had no attorney listed.

Also charged in connection with the incident is Leo Vance Phillipps, 37, who faces firearms violations.

Harmar police said they were called to TownePlace Suites by Marriott Pittsburgh Harmarville about 9:15 p.m. Friday for a report of shots fired.

When they arrived, a hotel employee informed them multiple people heard a gunshot come from a hotel room. The officers went to the hotel room and saw a bullet exit hole coming from the room, the complaint said.

Police spoke with a woman who had been staying in the room. The woman told police four people were staying there, including Waszkiewicz and Phillipps.

The woman told police she wasn’t in the room at the time of the shooting, but Waszkiewicz and Phillipps were. Phillipps is Waszkiewicz’s boyfriend.

Police said Phillipps at first denied being in the room when the gun went off, but later admitted he and Waszkiewicz were there, according to the complaint.

Phillipps told police he and Waszkiewicz got into an argument, and Waszkiewicz picked up his gun that had been laying on a table and put it to her head.

Phillipps said he took the gun from Waszkiewicz and put it back on the table, but Waszkiewicz picked it up again and discharged a round through the hotel room’s door.

Phillipps told police he recently bought the gun from someone in New Kensington and brought it to the hotel room. Police said Phillipps is a convicted felon who is not allowed to possess a gun.

Phillipps told police he hid the gun behind a tree at a KFC. Police took Phillipps there to retrieve the gun: a silver Taurus 9mm. Police said the gun had one live round in the chamber and five live rounds in the magazine.

Waszkiewicz also spoke with police and admitted she fired the gun.

Police said the bullet went through the hotel room’s front entry door and into another hotel room, coming to rest in the door frame. A woman had been staying in the room where the bullet entered at the time of the incident, police said.

Phillipps is charged with two felony firearms violations and was released on a nonmonetary bond, according to online court records. No attorney is listed for him.