Pennsylvania Judge Accused of Shooting Ex-Boyfriend in the Head as He Slept

Police allege they found gun residue on the hands of the suspended judge, Sonya M. McKnight, and the gun was registered to her

A suspended Pennsylvania judge allegedly shot her ex-boyfriend in his home as he slept, according to a press release from the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office.

The shooting occurred in the morning of Saturday, Feb. 10 at the Harrisburg home of the victim, Michael McCoy, after he tried to end his one-year relationship with Magisterial District Judge Sonya M. McKnight, 57, according to the press release and a police filing obtained by the Associated Press.

The bullet entered the right side of McCoy’s face and exited the left side of his face, the press release states. He survived but is now blind in one eye.

McKnight is now being charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.

After breaking up with McKnight, McCoy, 54, had attempted to get her to move out of his home numerous times, but she would not leave, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Associated Press, NBC News and CBS News.

Despite taking McKnight’s key to his home, McCoy came home on Friday, Feb. 9 to find McKnight in her pajamas on his couch, according to the affidavit. She had used a spare to enter while he was at work.

McCoy then left the home for a nearby bar after telling McKnight he planned to ask her mother for help removing her from the home, police said in the affidavit.

“At this point Sonya McKnight responds, ‘Oh, You’re serious?’ Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police wrote, per NBC News. Then, McCoy went to sleep around 11 p.m. that evening.

Police said McCoy awoke a couple hours later to “massive head pain,” and was unable to see, the Associated Press reported. As he began to scream in pain, McKnight allegedly asked him, “Mike what did you do to yourself?”

But McCoy denied shooting himself, telling police both at the scene and later on at the hospital that he did not, per the Associated Press.

McKnight had called 911 just before 1 a.m. to report that her boyfriend was unable to see, but said she “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming,” police wrote in the affidavit.

The affidavit also alleges that McKnight’s interview with detectives “was found to be deceptive” and the gun used to shoot McCoy was registered to her, per NBC News.

Additionally, a test conducted within an hour of the shooting found gun residue on her hands, according to the outlet.

McKnight also claimed that she did not leave the Harrisburg home the night of the shooting, but videos police obtained from McCoy’s neighbors’ doorbell cameras contradicted this, investigators said. McCoy told police he suspected she had checked on him while he was at the bar.

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McKnight was taken into custody on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 15, according to the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office. She is currently being held at the Dauphin County Prison with bail set at $300,000, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26.

Last November, McKnight was suspended without pay following claims that she violated judicial probation in a misconduct case regarding a 2020 traffic stop involving her son, the Associated Press reported. She was acquitted of criminal charges, however.

In 2019, McKnight was cleared in the shooting of her estranged husband, who was shot in the groin, Penn Live reported. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, citing self-defense.

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