Dec 10, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

City leaders and business owners in Washington said they still think downtown is a safe place to visit and shop following three incidents in the past two months in which gunshots rang out on North Main Street.

Washington Mayor Jojo Burgess said he will “not act like Chicken Little (saying) the sky is falling” following the most recent incident in which city police said a man suffering from a “PTSD attack” fired multiple gunshots inside and outside an apartment at 71 N. Main St. during a domestic incident about 7:45 p.m. Sunday.

That led city police to close North Main Street as officers investigated and prompted Washington & Jefferson College to issue a “shelter in place” warning for students that was later lifted.

The man, identified as 65-year-old William P. Coles of Washington, faces felony charges of aggravated assault and prohibited possession of a firearm, and misdemeanors of simple assault and reckless endangerment. Police said Coles fired multiple shots at the woman, who was not injured, while they were inside the apartment and several more shots outside before officers arrested him without incident, according to court documents.

Sunday night’s incident comes after two separate early-morning shootings nearby in the 100 block of North Main Street in the previous few weeks. Jullian Lassic, 20, of Washington, was shot and killed and another person wounded on Oct. 11, while another man was shot but survived following gunfire in that same block in the early hours of Thanksgiving on Nov. 27.

“It’s not as bad as people are painting a picture because (they’re) isolated incidents,” Burgess said. “We don’t have someone running around town shooting people. Police are working very hard to solve the issue. I do believe North Main Street is as safe as any street in the commonwealth.”

Burgess said these were “random acts” that are more coincidental than a trend. However, he declined to comment on whether city police will have more patrols on North Main Street due to the recent spate of violence.

“I’m not going to put that out. Then the bad actors will find it out,” Burgess said. “I won’t talk about tactics.”

Elsewhere on North Main Street, business owners said they were not worried about the recent events. Linda Adkins, who owns L.A. Sweets Bakery at 148 N. Main St., said the shootings were unfortunate, but she did not think it illustrated a trend or indicated Washington’s downtown business district was dangerous.

“I don’t have any concerns,” she said. “I think it’s a coincidence. It’s a shame it’s happening now. It does feel like it’s snowballing (but) I don’t think it’s concerning to the people with the businesses.”

Two other downtown business owners who asked not to be identified agreed that they were not overly concerned since the incidents appeared to be random.

But W&J officials released an advisory Monday suggesting students avoid going to North Main Street after dark due to the recent violence.

“In the past two weeks, there have been two alleged shooting incidents in the vicinity of North Main Street. One over the Thanksgiving break and the other last night, while neither of these situations has ties to Washington & Jefferson College, the safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” the statement read. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are advising everyone to avoid that area after dark, as the potential risk associated with being near the affected area is not worth the added risk of exposure.”

W&J President Elizabeth MacLeod Walls said the shelter in place alert sent to students Sunday night was “out of an abundance of caution,” although the incident did not happen on campus.

“Protecting the safety and well-being of our students and campus community is always our foremost priority,” she said.

College officials said they were in “direct contact” with Burgess and city police to address safety concerns, although the mayor said there have not been any meetings to discuss the recent events.

Burgess said he wanted to alleviate concerns by the community and let them know downtown is still a place people can feel comfortable shopping, and that city police are doing everything they can to protect residents and the businesses.

“I stand by my statement that it’s safe for anyone to be on North Main,” Burgess said.

No arrests have been made in the Oct. 11 shooting that killed Lassic, nor have any charges been filed in the Thanksgiving shooting.

Initial reports that the gunfire Sunday night happened at President’s Pub at 88 N. Main St. were unfounded – the restaurant was closed at the time – and city police said the incident happened across the street. Coles is being held at the Washington County jail on $100,000 cash bond ahead of his preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for Dec. 17 at 11 a.m.

Staff writer Jon Andreassi contributed to this story.