Homicide charges against Thomas McElhattan for the alleged shooting death of a young pregnant woman earlier this month were bound to court Wednesday by District Judge Rich Luther.

In an hour-long preliminary hearing at which McElhattan, 42, was represented by Public Defender Phil Clabaugh, six witnesses were called to testify by District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer.

Dr. Todd Luckasevic, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on 21-year-old Rebecca Haynes, was first to testify, which he did via video conference.

Luckasevic is with the Erie County coroner’s office, which covers 11 counties in the region. Shaffer asked him about the cause and matter of Haynes’ death. The response was “multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.”

The pathologist traced the pattern of five separate jacketed, hollow-point bullets through the woman’s body, listing the internal organs damaged by each shot in her torso. Each bullet entered the victim’s body at a downward angle as testimony stated the young woman was sitting on a couch when McElhattan opened fire on her.

Luckasevic was not immediately able to confirm if Haynes was pregnant at the time of her murder, he said. Further testing will be done.

On cross examination, Clabaugh asked, “Is there any way to tell which shot came first?”

No, the doctor replied.

“Is there any way to tell which one” caused her death, Clabaugh asked.

“Every gunshot wound is lethal in and of itself,” Luckasevic replied.

Next to testify was Sgt. Matthew Gustin, one of the first two Bradford City Police officers responding to 59 Jefferson St., where a 911 caller — McElhattan — reported that he shot a woman, Haynes. According to the criminal complaint in the case, McElhattan had left the residence on Jefferson Street and placed the 911 call from his residence at 331 Rutherford Run Road in Bradford Township.

Assisted by Officer Josh Frederoski, Gustin said they “pounded on the door,” identified themselves as police, but no one was answering. Frederoski looked in a window and saw a body. “At which point I kicked the door because there was exigent circumstances,” Gustin said.

The officers, not knowing if a potential assailant might be in the house, made sure to search the home and secure a dog in a room before checking on Haynes. “We found no pulse,” he said.

Shaffer introduced into evidence footage and still shots from Gustin’s body camera, and from surveillance cameras between Haynes’ home and McElhattan’s home.

Footage showed McElhattan going into the residence with a child, his step-granddaughter — the child of Haynes and his stepson, Devon Milne. He had been babysitting the child.

While the entire hearing was emotional, perhaps the most chilling part was the audio of the 911 call. Dispatcher Evan Rodriguez was called to the stand as the dispatcher who took the call at 2:27 p.m. June 7. Shaffer played it.

In response to Rodriguez’s questions, McElhattan — seemingly calm, with an even tone of voice — gives the address of the emergency as 59 Jefferson St. What is the emergency?

“I shot her, the girl that lives there.”

After a brief period of silence, Rodriguez continued, “OK, so tell me exactly what happened.”

“I shot her,” McElhattan said. “About six minutes ago.”

“Is anyone injured,” Rodriguez asked.

In a seemingly incredulous manner, McElhattan replied, “She is.”

“How many suspects are there?”

“Just me. I’m sitting on my porch waiting.”

He no longer had the weapon on him, he said, but added, “I used a 9 millimeter.”

Voices could be heard screaming and crying in the background of the call, but McElhattan’s voice stayed relatively level.

The dispatcher asked the victim’s name. “Rebecca Haynes.”

Rodriguez instructed him to stand in his front yard with his hands on his head, with the phone line open, until police arrived.

“Where did you shoot her?”

“In the chest.”

“How many times?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you use the whole magazine?”

“No, I did not use the whole mag.”

Bradford Township Police Officer Don Neel arrived at the Rutherford Run residence, which could be heard on the call. He asked, “Where is he?” McElhattan responded, “It’s me.”

He continued cooperating, Neel said, adding that he put him under arrest and put him in the patrol car. When he was in the car, McElhattan said, “There’s a 9 mm Taurus in a brown leather sleeve up by the firepit.”

Shaffer played footage from Neel’s body camera. Milne can be heard screaming, “You (expletive) killed my (expletive) girlfriend you (expletive)!”

Bradford City Police Chief Mike Ward testified that he and Chief McKean County Detective Ryan Yingling interviewed McElhattan at the station after the man waived his rights and agreed to speak to them.

“He started out by saying he had snapped,” Ward said. “He became a little emotional when he said it.”

McElhattan alleged that Haynes had been harassing his family. While he was babysitting her child, she reached out to him and wanted a diaper bag back. He took the child with him and went to her home, putting the child in her crib. The two were arguing, and continued arguing when he came out of the child’s room.

He had started to leave, but, Ward said, “He stopped at the doorway, unholstered his weapon and fired at her between one to five times. He couldn’t remember the number of shots.”

After he shot her, he retrieved the child and went home.

McElhattan said Haynes had contacted his wife and was going to meet her at her place of employment to out his sexual relationship with Haynes.

The chief said, “He uttered to us she was going to claim rape.”

Relatives said Haynes was pregnant, but McElhattan told the officers that Milne was the father.

After he shot Haynes, he called his wife and told her what he had done. Ward explained, “She said ‘You are going to go to prison’ and he said, ‘I know.’ He was going to call 911 and return the child to Devon.”

Shaffer asked if the child had been in the house at the time of the shooting. Yes, Ward said. It was a small house, and the child’s room was on the same side as the couch where Haynes had been sitting.

On cross examination, Clabaugh asked if the child was in the same room as her mother at the time of the shooting. She was not.

“You still felt she was in danger?” Clabaugh asked.

“I do. Bullets can travel. Anyone in that home can be at risk,” Ward said, adding it was a small house.

Yingling was last to the stand, and identified a diagram he had asked McElhattan to draw of the layout of Haynes’ house. Shaffer entered it into evidence.

On cross, Clabaugh asked if they questioned McElhattan as to why he had a gun with him. Yingling said he has a permit for concealed carry, and commonly carries a weapon with him.

As soon as Shaffer said the commonwealth rested its case, Luther bound all charges over to the Court of Common Pleas.

McElhattan is charged with homicide, aggravated assault with extreme indifference and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. He remains incarcerated without bail.