New Brighton man who fled from police after June shooting arrested in Sharon
A New Brighton man, who was accused of shooting toward a couple at a Beaver County gas station before fleeing into Cranberry Township, was arrested in Sharon this weekend, according to U.S. Marshals.
Jalen Sims, 33, had been charged with attempted homicide in relation to a June 20 incident where Sims approached a couple sitting in their vehicle at Speedway on Fifth Street and fired a shot that struck the vehicle, according to New Brighton police.
Sims had attempted to flee arrest Saturday by exiting a second-floor window and jumping from a roof in Sharon, according to a news release from the Sharon Police Department. He suffered injuries in the escape attempt and was taken into custody.
“The members of the Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force worked tirelessly to locate and arrest Sims,” U.S. Marshal Stephen Eberle said in a Tuesday news release. “With the assistance of the Mercer County SWAT team and the Sharon Police Department, they were able to successfully locate and take this dangerous individual into custody.”
The shooting appeared random, according to Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible. Sims entered a different vehicle and fled into Cranberry Township after firing the shot.
He was charged June 22 with two felony counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, two felony firearms charges, a felony count of theft, two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count each of tampering with evidence and terroristic threats.
The driver told police Sims asked him to drive him around and said he would buy him gasoline. They stopped at the Speedway for gas, which was when shooting took place. After the shooting, Sims got back into the Volkwagen and told the driver to drive, but the driver refused. Sims then pointed the gun at the driver and told him threatened to shoot him if he did not drive, police said.
The driver told police he pulled into a church parking lot in Butler County after the Volkswagen ran out of gas. The driver said he called 911 after Sims started walking away, but Sims returned and punched him in the face. Sims ran when police arrived.
Using footage from security cameras after the shooting, police said they identified Sims in the front seat passenger in a tan Volkswagen. The footage showed Sims exiting the car and pacing in front of the Speedway before retrieving a book bag from the back seat and removing a black firearm with an extended magazine from the bag, police said.
Police said Sims then looked around and saw the couple’s SUV enter the parking lot. He approached the SUV, raised the gun and fired it, striking the vehicle just above the windshield, according to the affidavit.
He then got back into the front passenger seat of the Volkswagen, which fled south on Fifth Avenue, according to the affidavit.
Shortly after, Cranberry Township police saw the Volkswagen and reported the driver was in custody, but the passenger fled.
Around the same time, police learned New Sewickley Township police had been dispatched to Rochester Road in Rochester, Beaver County, for a report two men had thrown a backpack over a hillside and left. Police responded there and found backpack containing a Glock handgun with an extended magazine.
A doorbell camera in the area recorded Sims exiting the Volkswagen’s passenger door carrying a book bag, walking to the edge of a parking lot and throwing the bag into the woods, police said. The driver also was seen in the footage.
Sims’ preliminary hearing in New Brighton has not yet been scheduled. U.S. Marshals said he was also wanted federally in the Western District of Pennsylvania for violating conditions of supervised release. He was also charged federally in 2021 with conspiracy to commit a Hobbs Act Robbery.
