By Jessica Kenley

Emporium Family Alleges Years of Harassment, Escalating to Gunfire Incident

EMPORIUM, Pa. — What began as a typical evening of music and laughter inside an Emporium home took a frightening turn when a projectile tore through a window—an incident the family says is part of a years-long pattern of harassment involving a neighboring man now facing criminal charges.

Ashley Mason, who lives with her husband and three young daughters in the Hillcrest area on Wennin Road, described the moment the family realized something was wrong.

“We were downstairs having a dance party,” Mason said. “The kids were rollerblading, jumping on their little trampoline—just being kids. My husband was outside and thought he heard a firework.”

Moments later, the family discovered that what they initially dismissed as noise was something far more dangerous: a shot had been fired into their home.

Authorities have since arrested a neighboring man, identified in court records as Michael Roberto. According to Mason, investigators recovered a weapon and matched projectiles, though she emphasized the case is still pending in court.

“I don’t want to say definitively—it’s still alleged,” Mason said. “But [the police] pulled the gun from his house and matched it.”

Court records reportedly include multiple charges, including harassment and discharging a weapon into an occupied structure.

For Mason, the incident represents a breaking point after nearly a decade of ongoing disturbances.

“This has been going on since before we moved here in 2016,” she said. “Fireworks at all hours, revving engines, screaming outside for hours. It’s constant.”

Neighbors, she said, have also documented similar behavior over the years and have contacted law enforcement on multiple occasions. Some have expressed willingness to provide statements, Mason added.

“It’s not just us,” she said. “Other neighbors have called the police. They’ve dealt with it too.”

Mason described a pattern she believes escalated after she provided video evidence in a prior legal matter involving the same individual.

“I had to go to court because I had video of him on a four-wheeler,” she said. “After that, things got worse.”

Among the more troubling allegations, Mason said the neighbor has stood at the edge of his property—just feet from her own—watching her children play outside.

“He’ll put chairs there and just stare down into our yard,” she said. “My kids aren’t allowed to play outside anymore because of it.”

She also recounted incidents of the man allegedly shining flashlights into nearby homes and shouting for extended periods.

Despite frequent police responses, Mason said the situation has remained unresolved.

“I’m not knocking the police—they come every time, and they come quickly,” she said. “But he keeps getting out. He keeps coming back.”

Mason believes the issue may lie further along in the judicial process, citing repeated releases following arrests.

“I don’t understand how he keeps slipping through the cracks,” she said. “Something has to change.”

The recent shooting has intensified her concerns for her family’s safety.

“My kids could have been killed,” she said. “I stayed quiet for years, but I can’t anymore.”

Mason has contacted the district attorney’s office and a local judge in an effort to explore protective legal options. She said she has also begun gathering documentation, including court records and communications, to support her claims.

As the case proceeds through the court system, the family hopes the incident will bring lasting change. 

The trial has been scheduled for this Thursday, April 30th, 2026. 

District Attorney Paul J. Malizia said, when contacted by phone, “This is a problem I’m faced with all of the time,” when discussing prisons being the de facto mental health institutions now in the United States. 

“DA’s are tasked with dealing with the mentally ill…There are not enough mental health institutions…In the old days, he would be in a mental health facility. Now he’s in prison instead…”

When asked what would happen to Roberto in the prison system, Malizia said, “He will get a mental health evaluation [to determine if] he is capable of understanding the trial and the justice system…”

Getting notably frustrated, Malizia went on to discuss the other enormous problem he faces–that the air gun that Roberto used to shoot at Mason’s house was perfectly legal for him to own.

“The United States is so damn liberal. He is a felon. He should be a ‘Person Not to Possess Firearms’ under the law. An air gun does not meet the definition of a firearm…I have contacted [PA] Senator [Cris] Dush by email, saying, ‘Please see what you can do to amend the law…”

According to DA Malizia, the air gun used Roberto possessed was a .50 caliber “Seneca Dragon II,” which, according to youtube videos, can effectively kill a zebra with one slug, weighing in at 336 grains. 

Although the human skull is stronger than concrete in terms of elasticity and load-bearing, according to https://brainly.com/, a 336-grain projectile would “almost certainly” penetrate the human skull, according to research, because while the skull’s general compression limit is roughly 520 to 1,100 lbs of static pressure, ballistics deal with what’s called “dynamic kinetic energy,” where the energy is concentrated on a tiny surface area. 

In this instance, the lethal threshold for the human skull is only about 53 to 58 foot-pounds, which exceeds the lethal threshold by nearly 6.5 times.

Also noteworthy, a 336-grain slug is exceptionally heavy for an air gun—more than 20 times the weight of a standard .22 caliber pellet. Heavier projectiles retain momentum and resist air resistance much better than lighter ones, leading to deeper penetration.

To put this into perspective, 340 ft-lbs is comparable to the muzzle energy of a .38 Special or a 9mm handgun, both of which are notoriously capable of penetrating the human skull. High-power big-bore air rifles (typically .357, .45, or .50 caliber) producing over 300 ft-lbs are used for big-game hunting, such as deer or hogs. 

Or zebras. 

Any person can purchase a “Seneca Dragon II” for around $750. When contacted by phone about this matter, Emporium Outdoors, LLC gun shop did not return calls. 

When Senator Dush was contacted by phone, his local office, serving Cameron County, did not comment on the laws regarding air guns being classified as firearms at press time, stating that Senator Dush is “extremely busy,” and referred the question to their Harrisburg office.

 Michael Roberto is being held in the Elk County Jail on $25,000 cash bail. 

“We just want to feel safe in our own home,” Mason concluded, her voice sounded heavy, and then sighed, as if weary, exhausted from the entire situation.

Updates will be available as they develop pertaining to this story.