Cops: Man Opened Fire At Bristol Twp. Bar

A Middletown man is accused of firing a gun at a Bristol Township bar early Friday morning.

Bristol Township police responded to Murphy’s Beef and Ale on Emilie Road in Levittown at 2:42 a.m. for a report that someone shot at the building and then fled in a pickup truck.

Officers began investigating and spoke with people who were at the bar. They relayed that a customer got in an altercation with another customer and left. He returned a short time later and the bar was closed up. The man began banging the door and yelling while trying to enter through the front and back. He left and then returned again before walking out of sight, according to court papers.

After walking out of eyesight of the witnesses, a flash was seen and several gunshots were heard, breaking a window, they told police.

One man who was at the closed bar reported seeing a pickup truck flee the parking lot after the gunfire.

The alleged gunman was identified as a 32-year-old man, police said.

While Bristol Township police were at the bar, Middletown police went to the man’s home in the Levittown neighborhood of Cobalt Ridge and detained him. At that time, he was “manifestly drunk” and mentioned being at Murphy’s earlier, authorities said.

The man denied a police search of his pickup truck and home. His vehicle was then towed to police headquarters, authorities said.

Police said they recovered 9mm shell casings at the bar and damage to the window, door, and glass block.

The man was interviewed Friday morning after sunrise and admitted to not remembering much of the early morning. The 32 year old said he did remember being at Murphy’s drinking beer and Crown Royal and next recalled police officers being on his front lawn, police said.

During his interview, the man admitted to having a 9mm handgun in his pickup truck and to owning other firearms at his home, police said.

No one inside the bar was injured.

The man was arraigned before District Judge Robert Wagner Jr. late Friday afternoon on charges of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and disorderly conduct.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.