Shot Fired in Mainstay Inn, Police Say

A 28-year-old Barto, Pennsylvania man was arrested this month after Phoenixville Police say he fired a rifle round through the wall of his room in the Mainstay Inn.

According to court documents, on January 30 at 9:52 a.m., officers responded to the hotel for a report of a “suspicious condition.”

They were led to room 204, where a hotel employee showed them what looked to be a bullet hole in the center of the door. It appeared the gunshot had been fired inside the room, blasted through the door, then lodged itself in the wall across from the room. Inside the room police found one spent .22-caliber cartridge case and two unspent .22-caliber cases.

Staff identified the man who rented room 204 the night before as Joshua Stewart, 28.

While Phoenixville Police were sorting out the location of Stewart, they received a call from the Douglas Township Police Department. Douglasville PD told Phoenixville that they were currently in contact with Stewart, who told them that he had stayed in the Mainstay the previous night and thought someone was outside his room threatening him, so he fired one shot from a .22-caliber rifle through the door. Douglasville PD said Stewart was acting irrational, and they were preparing paperwork to have him involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital.

On February 1, Stewart was arrested and charged with recklessly endangering another person, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct. He was placed in Chester County Prison on $75,00 bail and faces preliminary hearing on February 14.