08/17/08 — EAST MEAD and RANDOLPH TOWNSHIPS — An apparent theft of several all-terrain vehicles went awry early Saturday morning, leading to a shoot-out and the eventual death of one of the suspects.

And a woman who happened to be where the theft was in progress was shot and seriously injured.

Scott Edward Knox of Guys Mills fled the shoot-out scene before taking his own life, police said; and Jessica Craig, who had confronted Knox outside her home, is recovering from a gunshot wound at Erie’s Hamot Hospital.

Knox, 32, of 26852 Guys Mills Road, Guys Mills, and Jonathan Michael Myers, 20, of 6654 Perry Highway, Meadville, were heard driving the ATVs at about 3 a.m. in the Plank Road/Hatch Hill Road area of East Mead Township, eventually awakening Craig, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report.

Police said Knox and Myers arrived at a barn owned by Vincent Paczkoskie. The address of the barn was not given, but Paczkoskie is listed in the Meadville phone book as a physician with offices in Meadville. Calls to his office were not answered Saturday night.

The ATV heist began rather smoothly. Police said Knox entered a barn and located four all-terrain vehicles, then entered a nearby residence and found the keys to the ATVs. Knox and Myers drove the ATVs into a nearby cornfield and subsequently drove three of the ATVs even farther away.

Two of the ATVs then were driven onto property along Plank Road where Knox’s truck was parked. That property is owned by Craig, 25, who heard the ATVs. She left her residence and approached Knox and Myers. Knox used a .380 pistol and fired at least one shot at Craig, striking her in the abdomen and arm.

Police said that is when Christopher Johnston, 28, of Guys Mills, arrived on the scene — just as Craig was shot. Knox then shot at Johnston, who returned fire, using a .410 revolver, a pistol-type firearm that shoots shotgun shells, police said.

Knox and Johnston fired several rounds at each other, police report, and Knox was struck by pellets fired by Johnston, who was not injured in the face-off.

Knox fled the scene on one of the stolen ATVs and returned to his Guys Mills Road residence. He subsequently walked into a field across from his residence and fatally shot himself, police said, though the exact time of that incident was not reported. One emergency responder said police units were summoned to Knox’s residence about daybreak.

Craig was taken to Meadville Medical Center and then transferred to Hamot Hospital, Erie, where she was admitted. Hamot officials said Saturday night that her condition was listed as fair.

Myers was taken into custody without incident, charged with burglary, theft by unlawful taking and theft by receiving stolen property. Preliminary arraignment was held before Magisterial District Judge Michael Rossi, and Myers was committed to Crawford County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The area where Knox died was eerily quiet Saturday afternoon. A young man who said he was a cousin of the deceased pointed to where Knox reportedly shot himself, near an abandoned house and overgrown property on the northwest corner of Schenberg and Guys Mills roads in Randolph Township. It is in East Mead Township, a couple of miles from the scene where police said Craig was shot and the shoot-out was held.

Several people, all refusing to be identified, said they did not hear shots fired near Knox’s death scene, but all were well aware of Saturday morning’s massive police presence in the area. One neighbor said police were still responding to the scene at 8:30 a.m., and that he had seen PSP motorcycles and police cars hurriedly passing his Guys Mills Road property to the Schenberg intersection, which was cordoned off for hours. Another reported seeing a forensics crime lab arrive on the scene.

One man said he and his next-door neighbor had suspected that someone was “checking out the area” after a light blue van “with chromed-over wheels” had been seen driving suspiciously several times in recent weeks. On one occasion the van pulled down a long driveway in daylight, but when a neighbor from a nearby property suddenly walked toward the van from behind a garage, the occupants of the van drove away without comment or incident.

Neighbors told police about the van’s activities and gave a description, but nothing was reported back to them.