By MARCIE SCHELLHAMMER

marcie@bradfordera.com

A preliminary hearing for accused murderer Thomas McElhattan is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 25 before District Judge Rich Luther in Bradford.

McElhattan, 42, of 331 Rutherford Run, was charged over the weekend in the shooting death of a young mother, Rebecca Haynes, 21, at her Jefferson Street home while her 1-year-old child was there. Police reported that Haynes was pregnant at the time of her death.

McElhattan is represented by Public Defender Phil Clabaugh.

The charges against the defendant include criminal homicide, with a note on the criminal complaint that the prosecution will seek “the deadly weapon enhancement.” According to the Pennsylvania Criminal Code, when a deadly weapon — in this case, a firearm — is used in a crime, it would lead to a harsher sentence against the defendant.

On Tuesday, The Era asked McKean County District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer about the potential for seeking the death penalty in the case, as one of the aggravating circumstances allowing for it is that the victim is a pregnant woman, and “the defendant had knowledge of the victim’s pregnancy,” according to the statute.

Shaffer responded, “No decision about the death penalty will be made without all of the evidence.”

The criminal complaint in the case indicated that at 2:30 p.m. June 7, the City of Bradford Police were dispatched to 59 Jefferson St. for a reported shooting. A male caller to McKean County 911, later found to be McElhattan, said he had shot a woman at that location and had since left the scene and returned to his residence.

Two city police officers went to the Jefferson Street residence while a Bradford Township officer went to McElhattan’s, where he was taken into custody without incident. At Jefferson Street, the city officers found the body of Haynes, who had sustained apparent gunshot wounds, the complaint stated.

The scene was secured and Jefferson Street was closed to traffic, the complaint read.

When interviewed by Bradford City Police Chief Mike Ward and McKean County Chief Detective Ryan Yingling, McElhattan admitted to killing Haynes. He said the two had an “intimate relationship,” and that he had been caring for her 1-year-old child and brought the child to her when they began arguing. He said he put the child in the bedroom and returned to the argument and “ultimately shot Haynes between one and five times,” the complaint alleged.

Relatives of Haynes told investigators of her pregnancy at the time of her death.

McElhattan was charged with criminal homicide, a first-degree felony; aggravated assault with extreme indifference, a first-degree felony; and two counts of recklessly endangering another person, second-degree misdemeanors.

He was arraigned early Sunday before Luther and remanded to jail without bail.