A 44-year-old man is behind bars in Pennsylvania after he randomly shot and killed a nurse as she drove down the street of Tredyffrin Township on Saturday night.
Police officers had an interaction with an armed and paranoid Steve Jahn just two hours before he killed Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia nurse Megan Nieberle, WPVI said.
According to court documents, Jahn went to a PNC bank in Paoli at about 8:30 p.m. and called 911, claiming he was being followed by multiple people, including undercover police officers, WCAU reported. Jahn told dispatchers he had a loaded 9mm handgun.
Tredyffrin Township police responded to the scene and found Jahn in is truck with his hands in the air. He “frantically” repeated his claims about being followed. The officer told the armed man that he could commit himself to a hospital for a mental health evaluation but that he’d have to surrender his loaded handgun.
Jahn had a permit for concealed carry and refused to give up the gun. He agreed that he would go to the hospital if he had an “escort” from police, who complied and followed him to Paoli Hospital, where Jahn refused to go inside, saying the cars in the parking lot were part of the group that was “after” him and following him.
Police let him leave at that point, making the decision that a man having a mental break and armed with a loaded handgun wasn’t a danger to himself or others, which is the standard for an involuntary commitment.
The criminal complaint says that Jahn drove through Berwyn and Tredyffrin Township after police let him leave the hospital. At one point, the documents say, he interacted with a man and his son in a driveway.
About two hours after he called police and said he was being followed by undercover police officers and others, he shot Nieberle as she drove down Contention Lane in Tredyffrin Township. Neighbors found her slumped over the wheel of her SUV. She was taken to Paoli Hospital, the same hospital a paranoid and armed Jahn had refused to enter, and died a day later.
After killing Nieberle, Jahn drove to a relative’s home in Berwyn, and that family member called 911, saying he brought weapons and a dashcam into their home. Police found his vehicle somewhere, and then came to the home and took Jahn into custody. They seized the two weapons and the dashcam, which contained video showing him driving around with a gun in his lap on Saturday.
KYW said surveillance cameras and license plate readers put Jahn in the area of the shooting Saturday night. The dashcam footage showed him ripping the dashcam from his truck minutes before police arrived at the shooting scene. He is heard saying “I ain’t playing no more” while driving around with the gun on his lap.
Sirens are heard in his video, and he’s seen putting a gun in the glove compartment.
Jahn has been charged with criminal homicide, first degree murder, third degree murder, and possession of an instrument of a crime with intent. Police believe the fatal shooting was just random as Jahn and Nieberle had no connections.
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[Featured image: Steve Jahn/Chester County District Attorney’s Office and Megan Nieberle/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia]