YORK COUNTY, Pa. — It took almost five years, but police believe they have found the man responsible for accidentally shooting a Spring Grove man with an AK-47-style rifle while the victim was visiting his parents' home in North Codorus Township.
Jeremy Dettinger, who was 24 at the time of the Oct. 26, 2015 incident, was hit in the buttocks by a round that police at the time believed came from a mile or more away from the scene.
Mark Allen Crone, 43, of York, was charged with the shooting on Monday, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by Northern York County Regional Police, who took over the investigation after the Southwestern Regional Police Department disbanded.
Crone is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one count of person not to possess a firearm, and one count of reckless endangerment, charging documents say. There is a warrant out for Crone's arrest.
According to the complaint, Dettinger and a friend were target shooting at his parents' North Codorus Township home, which had a shooting range in the back yard. As they walked back to the shooting area after checking the targets, the men heard the sound of gunfire coming from their right, and noticed dirt kicking up around them. They fled for cover.
As Dettinger ran, he felt a sting in his buttocks, similar to a bee sting. When he took cover behind a nearby vehicle, he felt the area and discovered he had been shot.
Dettinger was treated at York Hospital for his injury, police say. Surgeons removed a .30-caliber bullet.
The complaint says as part of their initial investigation, Southwestern Regional Police responded to a structure on the 1400 block of Fire Hall Road, which was about 200 yards from the shooting scene. Dettinger told them that is where he believed the shots originated from, police say.
Officers spoke to a woman there, who said she and Crone, her boyfriend, lived in an apartment located in the upper floor of the structure. Crone rented the garage downstairs as part of his auto repair business, the woman said. Crone was not present initially but returned later and indicated to police that he was not home at the time of the incident, the complaint states.
On Jan. 27, 2016, the complaint says, State Police interviewed a woman who reported she and her estranged husband were friends of Crone and his girlfriend. The woman reported that after the incident occurred, she discovered a Soviet-style semi-automatic rifle in her closet. Her estranged husband told her Crone had given it to him and asked him to hold on to it. The woman said she was "freaked out" and she and her husband immediately returned the rifle to Crone.
The woman reported she questioned Crone about the rifle, and said he told her he had "shot some kid with it." Crone took the rifle and put it on the front seat of one of the vehicles on his property, the woman told police.
On March 3 of this year, Northern York County Police located the woman's estranged husband, who confirmed her account, the complaint states. He told police Crone had called him in October of 2015 and said he had "f---ked up" and needed the man to hold something for him. Crone then gave him an AK-47-style rifle, which Crone said he had accidentally shot someone with. The man told police he had the rifle for about a week before his wife discovered it, and that they immediately gave it back to Crone.
Northern York Police returned to the Fire Hall Road property and determined there was line-of-sight for someone to shoot Dettinger from that location. The .30-caliber round removed by surgeons from Dettinger's injury matched that of the type of rifle described by the witnesses.
The complaint against Crone was filed based on that evidence, police say.
