PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
ACCORDING TO BRADY: Hero or vigilante? Local gun control questions continue :: 08/03/2015
This is a story about handguns. It’s about two local incidents that occurred in public areas and could have had very different endings. And it’s about events that illustrate core arguments pro and con for packing heat.
This is not, however, an essay on the Second Amendment, but simply an observation that both events occurred on the same day just miles apart.
It’s 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 8, and it’s business-as-usual at the TD Bank at 256 S. York Road in Hatboro. Customers come and go; the phone rings, and deposits, withdrawals and other transactions have the place humming. No reason to believe this will be a day different from any other. But then, at 10:18 a.m., routine steps aside.
A man wearing a black hat and black clothing has entered the bank — allegedly with no intention of conducting normal banking. The place is being robbed, and he wants cash and wants it now. Without incident, he’s handed a satchel containing an undetermined amount of money, as well as, unbeknownst to him, a dye pack.
It’s at this time that, coincidentally, Hatboro Councilman George Forgeng is driving by when he spots the suspect and sees the dye explode. Instantly, Forgeng gives chase, eventually following the suspect on foot for about a quarter-mile to a rear lot at the Station Park office complex, 330 S. Warminster Road, all the while screaming at the suspect to hit the ground.
When the man, later identified as Kevin Philip-John Way, 30, of the 300 block of South Warminster Road, turns toward his pursuer, he’s met with a surprise. Licensed to carry a concealed weapon, Forgeng pulls his gun and points it at Way, who then challenges the councilman by stating, “Go ahead; shoot me.” Two shots are fired at Way, striking him in the arm and hand.
In the days since, many in Hatboro are asking: Was the quick-acting councilman a hero or vigilante? Is he Wyatt Earp or Dirty Harry? Did he go over-the-top and put himself and the public in harm’s way? The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office has questions, too, and is investigating whether charges should be leveled.
About 12 hours later, in a Warminster park a few miles away, another incident unfolds — this one involving a handgun, two teens and a pair of attempted robberies.
It was after 10 p.m. when the teens allegedly confronted a man in Szymanck Park, reportedly shoving a gun in his face, pushing him to the ground and making off with an unknown amount of money. A short time later that same night, a second robbery is attempted.
Warminster police, acting on a tip, later arrest two Warminster boys, ages 16 and 17. The juveniles later confess to using an airsoft pistol designed to appear as a semi-automatic pistol.
