WORTH TWP — State police charged a 36-year-old woman injured early Sunday morning during an officer-involved shooting outside her apartment on New Castle Road.

Police said Brittany Ann Kitner came out of her home at the Stoneworth Apartments shortly before 4 a.m. holding a loaded shotgun.

When she refused to drop the gun, police said, at least one trooper fired his service pistol, hitting her in the thigh.

She was eventually flown to an Ohio hospital for treatment. The extent of her injuries and her condition were not immediately known.

District Judge Wayne Seibel issued police an arrest warrant for Kitner on felony counts of aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and reckless endangerment.

Investigators said police were called shortly after 3:30 a.m. for a report of a suicidal woman at the apartment complex. Police were reportedly advised that a mental health commitment was being prepared for the woman.

Two patrol troopers and Kitner's landlord approached her apartment and knocked on the door, identifying themselves, police said. They could hear someone moving around inside.

“The defendant then opened the door holding a shotgun,” according to the criminal complaint.

Police said the troopers retreated, taking cover and ordering the woman to drop the gun. The landlord fled in another direction.

“(Kitner) proceeded into the doorway and raised the shotgun,” court documents said, “at which time troopers engaged the defendant.”

The troopers, police said, fired at least one round, hitting the woman in the thigh and causing her to fall to the ground and let go of the gun.

Kitner did not fire any shots, police said. Both officers secured the woman and then immediately provided first aid to her.

A tenant who did not want to give her name, told the Butler Eagle that she and her boyfriend were awakened by what they believed sounded like three shots.

“We heard 'bang, bang, bang,'” she said.

Scared, the couple took shelter in their bathroom.

“We ran from the window as fast as we could,” she recounted.

She said she could hear two officers talking to one another afterward but she could not make out what they were saying.

The couple eventually felt safe enough to peek out the window and saw two police cars and an ambulance.

A treating Slippery Rock EMS crew member said rescuers applied pressure dressings to Kitner, before she was taken by ambulance to Grove City Medical Center. She was later flown to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

The woman as of 1:30 p.m. was reportedly in surgery, said police Cpl. Tim Morando.

Both troopers, he said, in keeping with department protocol, have been placed on administrative leave pending completion of the investigation.

Along with the Troop D Major Case Team, the department's Internal Affairs Division and the Butler County District Attorney's Office are investigating.

“We have video of the incident,” Morando said, but he did not discuss any findings. The video was obtained from cameras at the apartment complex.

A man who answered the telephone at the Stoneworth Apartments office declined comment and referred all questions to police. He would not identify himself.

The apartment's website describes Stoneworth as “the quietest apartment complex in Slippery Rock.”

The website lists 100 studio apartments, 20 “medium” apartments and 24 one-bedroom apartments.

The low-cost apartments are popular with Slippery Rock University students, according to a few of the tenants who were home Sunday afternoon.

Those tenants also agreed the apartment complex is typically quiet and generally problem free.