Second Man Pleads Guilty to Assault of Father Protecting Daughter in Lower Gwynedd

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

A Penllyn man has been sentenced to jail time and probation for his role in a September 2022 assault and shooting on Trewellyn Avenue in Lower Gwynedd Township.

Michael Weldon, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of simple assault on Monday just before his trial was set to begin. In exchange, felony counts of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, as well as misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, harassment, and possession of an instrument of crime were dropped in exchange for his plea, court records show.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Rogers sentenced Weldon to 11½ to 23 months in county jail, followed by two years’ probation. Additional sentencing notes indicate Weldon is prohibited from having contact with the victim upon his release.

Police were dispatched to the scene at 8:38 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2022, for a report of a shooting. Arriving police located a 71-year-old male victim bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to his lower right leg, and the victim’s daughter claimed he had been shot by 33-year-old Christopher Sherman, of Penllyn, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim was transported via ambulance to Abington Hospital for treatment. He was subsequently released after receiving treatment, according to Lower Gwynedd Police Chief Paul Kenny

Investigators said Sherman and Weldon went to the daughter’s home at 8:30 p.m. to confront the woman about a verbal argument that occurred earlier in the day. The woman stated she heard a knock on the door of her second-floor bedroom, and upon opening the door, she was met by Sherman, who began screaming at her while holding a handgun pointed at her face, and Weldon, who was holding a baseball bat, the report states.

The woman closed the door, dialed 911 and called her father, police said.

Moments later, the father — who lived in a neighboring home — arrived on scene and encountered Sherman and Weldon, who began physically assaulting him with fists and the baseball bat across the first floor of the home, according to the complaint. The father was eventually able to escape the two men and retreat out the front door of the home, at which point Sherman allegedly fired a single shot at the man, striking him in the back of his right leg.

Sherman and Weldon then fled the scene, police said, though Sherman turned himself in later in the evening.

Investigators said they found a single 9mm shell casing in the front yard of the home, as well as broken furniture and glass across the first floor of the home. The complaint notes Sherman was prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm due to a prior felony drug conviction.

Sherman pleaded guilty in September to felony counts of aggravated assault with extreme indifference and prohibited possession of a firearm, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. He was subsequently sentenced to 5 to 10 years in state prison.