Lawrence Robinson

An Allegheny County man is accused of strangling a woman and later firing a gun into her unoccupied vehicle during a suspected domestic dispute last week in northern Butler County.

State police Thursday arrested Lawrence B. Robinson III, 22, of Braddock on felony and other charges stemming from the incident Tuesday. He is free on $25,000 bail.

Police said they were called shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday to the victim's apartment on Stillwater Lane in Slippery Rock Township. The woman had bruising and abrasions on her neck.

She told investigators that she and the defendant had been in an intimate relationship, police said, and that she agreed to meet with him at a parking lot on Grove City Road, also in Slippery Rock Township that morning to discuss an argument they had the previous week.

While talking in the woman's car, an argument ensued, according to charging documents, and Robinson allegedly struck her in the face and head.

Robinson also is accused of grabbing the victim's neck and throat, which impeded her breathing. She drove away after he got out of her vehicle.

She returned to her apartment, police said, where Robinson allegedly followed her in his vehicle. The victim said she was inside her apartment and saw Robinson, who was outside waving a black handgun and yelling that he needed to get his eyeglasses from her vehicle.

“(She) went outside to her vehicle, retrieved the eyeglasses, and gave them to Robinson,” according to charging documents, “while Robinson was brandishing the firearm, threatening to harm her.”

The victim went back into her apartment. She then described hearing a single gunshot, and Robinson drive away in his vehicle, documents said. She walked outside and found her rear windshield shattered from a gunshot.

The front windshield and dashboard also were damaged from the shot. The car, police noted, was parked in front of her apartment when the shot was fired.

Police obtained an arrest warrant for Robinson that day. He turned himself in to police Thursday.

He eventually was arraigned on a felony charge of strangulation, misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats, simple assault, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, and a summary charge of harassment.

His preliminary hearing is set July 29. His attorney, Michael Pawk of Butler, on Sunday said he declined to comment “at this time.”