Uniontown teen charged fatal shooting to stand trial for criminal homicide
Ed Riedmann
On Friday, 14-year-old Antonyo Owens was held for Fayette County Court in the June 6 fatal shooting of Anthony Jones, 38.
Owens
A Uniontown teen charged in a fatal June shooting had the criminal homicide charge lodged against him held for court on Friday.
Antonyo Owens, 14, allegedly shot Anthony Jones, 38, near Calvary United Methodist Church on Clarke Street in Uniontown around 11:30 a.m. on June 6.
Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower played video from the church surveillance cameras during Owens’ preliminary hearing. Jones, of Uniontown, was shot three times, and when he fell to the ground, Owens allegedly shot him seven more times before fleeing down a nearby alley.
Police were able to get stills of the shooter from the video. On Friday, county Juvenile Probation Officer Leroy Townsend testified he was asked by police to look at the stills, and identified the shooter as Owens.
Townsend testified that he had been Owens’ probation officer since 2020, and saw him twice a month. The final time was a week prior to the shooting.
He also testified that Owens was on house arrest at that time had to wear an electronic ankle monitor. Townsend testified the juvenile probation office received an indication that the monitor wasn’t charged several days before the shooting.
Owens’ attorney, Blaine Jones II, showed Townsend the surveillance images and asked if he could see an ankle monitor on the shooter. Townsend testified he could not determine for certain if the shooter was wearing one.
Bower also introduced testimony from Uniontown police Lt. Tom Kolencik, who was the first officer to arrive. Kolencik testified he saw gunshot wounds to Anthony Jones’ head and face, and recognized Jones.
Owens, who is charged as an adult, was arrested five days after the shooting in a wooded area near Burgess Field Road in German Township.
In addition to holding the criminal homicide over for common pleas court, Magisterial District Judge Richard Kasunic II also bound over felony charges of prohibited possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of a firearm by a minor.
Owens is scheduled for a preliminary arraignment on Nov. 16 at the Fayette County Courthouse, and remains lodged in the county jail without bond.