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Kayla Menne took a 9-millimeter pistol registered in her previous legal name, Kayla Boyden Harris, from her home in the 100 block of Nissley Street, Middletown to the 5000 block of Julia Lane, McKees Rocks with the intent of shooting at the family fostering her child, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Kennedy Township Police Department.
The family, consisting of two adults and four children ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 — including her biological child, were walking outside of their home when the Lyft driver pulled up in his Nissan and Kayla hopped out of the seat behind the driver and opened fire.
She let off nine shots in the family's direction but missed every time before a neighbor punched her in the eye and disarmed her, as detailed in the affidavit. While on the ground, an off-duty Mckees Rocks officer held her and made sure she did not have any additional weapons on her.
The Kennedy Township police soon arrived and took her to receive medical care and then placed her on a minimum of 24-hour involuntary commitment for psychiatric evaluation as an inpatient at Heritage Valley, according to the affidavit.
Kayla's child was previously with another foster family but was reassigned after she threatened their lives and was "sending suspicious packages," as stated in the court documents.
The current foster family was already in the process of seeking a Protection From Abuse Order against Kayla prior to the shooting.
Kayla is charged with six felony counts of aggravated assault, six misdemeanor counts of simple assault, six misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one misdemeanor for firearms not to be carried without a license, according to her court docket.
Her preliminary hearing was still pending, due to her current inpatient care and no additional court information was available as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
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