A suspended Pennsylvania judge charged with shooting her ex-boyfriend as he slept

Sarah Al-Arshani
 USA TODAY

A suspended Pennsylvania magistrate judge is being accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head and trying to convince him that he shot himself, authorities said.

Magisterial District Judge Sonya McKnight, 57, allegedly shot Michael McCoy in his home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after he tried to break up with her on February 10, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by the Associated Press.

McKnight was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault on Thursday.

Susquehanna Township Police said they got a 911 call from McKnight requesting an ambulance and stating that her boyfriend could not see, NBC News reported.

Multiple break-up attempts

CBS News reported that McCoy, 54, had tried getting McKnight to move out “numerous times,” after he broke off their year-long relationship but when he came home on Feb. 9, he found McKnight on the couch in pajamas.

According to an NBC News report, McCoy then left the home to go to a local bar. When he returned, he told McKnight that he planned to get her mother’s help to help get her out of the home, according to CBS News.

“Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police said.

He then went to bed at around 11 p.m. and woke up an hour or two later with “massive head pain” and was unable to see, CBS News reported.

“He begins screaming and he hears Sonya McKnight say, ‘Mike what did you do to yourself,’” according to the affidavit, via NBC News.

Police said McCoy had a single gunshot wound that went into his right temple and exited his left temple. McCoy repeatedly told police that he did not shoot himself. Authorities told the AP that McCoy is now blind in his right eye.

McKnight allegedly tried to convince McCoy that he had shot himself, and police said they determined that her interview with them was “deceptive,” NBC News reported.

An investigation found that the gun used was registered to McKnight and gun residue was found on her hands an hour after the shooting, according to the same report.

She’s being held in the Dauphin County Prison on a $300,000 bail.

In November, FOX 43 reported that McKnight was suspended without pay from her role as Dauphin County Magisterial District Judge pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct filed against her in September 2023, by the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board. 

In 2019, McKnight was also involved in a shooting of Enoch McKnight, her estranged husband. PennLive reported that in August 2019, McKnight was cleared in the incident that occurred three months earlier at her home. The case was ruled as self-defense and McKnight was not charged in that case.

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