Connellsville man to stand trial in shooting death of cousin
A Connellsville man will stand trial after police allege he accidentally shot and killed his cousin last month with a new handgun she had just purchased.
State police said Jeremy Paul Hamborsky, 24, of Connellsville was charged with a single count of involuntary manslaughter after he fired the weapon early Aug. 11 at Kylie Marie Sage, 23, while seated inside Sage’s pickup truck on North Bellview Road in Bullskin Township.
Following testimony from two troopers, Magisterial District Judge Ronald J. Haggerty Jr. held the single count against Hamborsky for Fayette County Court following a preliminary hearing Thursday.
Trooper Craig Soltis testified that Hamborsky told investigators that while he was riding along with two others in Sage’s pickup truck that morning, Sage showed him the new .45-caliber Ruger handgun she had purchased.
Hamborsky told police that he was sitting in the right rear passenger seat when he took the gun and asked Sage if the weapon was loaded, Soltis testified.
Soltis testified that Sage told him it was not loaded, a response Soltis testified was corroborated by the other people inside the vehicle at the time of the incident.
Soltis testified Hamborsky racked the slide of the weapon and upon doing so accidentally fired a round at Sage, striking her in her right side and traveling through her body and out the left side before exiting the vehicle through Sage’s open window.
Soltis testified that Hamborsky then told officers he ran to assist Sage, had one of the other passengers call 911 and applied pressure to her wound until emergency personnel arrived.
Soltis testified that Hamborsky was cooperative with police and that he was very emotional during questioning, noting that he and Sage were very close.
Trooper Patrick Egros testified that when he arrived, Hamborsky approached him after the 2:45 a.m. shooting and immediately began to recount what had occurred and admitted to accidentally shooting Sage.
“When he went to cock it back, he shot her,” Egros testified.
He testified that Hamborsky expounded, stating, “She is my cousin, my family. I would never do anything like this on purpose.”
Sage was pronounced dead at the scene by Fayette County Deputy Coroner John Kondrla around 6 a.m.
Hamborsky was represented by attorney Emily Smarto of Greensburg.
He remains free after posting 10 percent of $50,000.
Fayette County Assistant District Attorney Mark Brooks also asked Haggerty to include in Hamborsky’s bond that he not have contact with Sage’s family.
Haggerty consented to the request.