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Convicted drug dealer Donta Fremon Wells was arrested and back in jail after he fired gunshots into a group of women outside of 325 High St. about 6 p.m. Wednesday, city police alleged in an affidavit. No one was injured in the shooting, police said.
While en route to the scene, officers were told by a dispatcher that the gunman, along with five acquaintances, fled in a red Ford Edge that an officer spotted moments later near High and Hepburn streets, it was stated in the court document. Several officers stopped the car at West Edwin and Campbell streets. As all six were ordered out of the vehicle, one of the occupants, a woman, was seen "reaching around the interior of the vehicle during the stop," police said.
Another occupant was 33-year-old Wells, who is alleged to have fired a gun into a group of females on High Street, police said, adding that the woman who was seen making movements in the Edge had hid the gun used in the shooting in her bra, police said. She was not charged, police added.
It appeared that the trouble all began as a domestic dispute with Wells and a woman arguing with one another in the parking lot about "one of them cheating on another," the affidavit stated. Another woman intervened, trying to calm the two down, police said, adding that Wells apologized and then he and his girlfriend, along with others, left the scene in the Ford Edge. However, Wells then "came back and began demanding that people stay out of his business," police said, adding he then had his girlfriend and one of the women in the crowd "fight" with each other. Moments later "Wells pulled out a pistol and started shooting from the other end of the parking lot," it was stated in the court document. A witness reported seeing "Wells shoot into a group of females about three times. Once sirens could be heard, Wells, and (his girlfriend) along with a group of his friends got (back) in the Ford Edge and quickly fled," police said.
Wells' girlfriend told police that she and another woman "engaged in a verbal altercation. When the two began fighting, other females (in the crowd) got involved and jumped (the girlfriend). Wells then pulled out a firearm and shot it to get the group of females off of her," the court document stated.
The girlfriend admitted she and Wells, along with others, fled in the Edge, and that when police vehicles appeared behind their car, "Wells handed her the handgun and she concealed it in her bra," police added.
Convicted of three felony charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, Wells was arraigned before District Judge Denise Dieter on felony charges of receiving stolen property, convicted felon not to possess a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license as well as other offenses, including recklessly endangering another person, tampering with evidence, simple assault, possession of an instrument of crime and disorderly conduct.
"I didn't know it (the gun) was stolen," Wells told the judge during the proceeding. "I apologize. I should have handled it differently," he told her. He was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.