'Frantic' Man Called 911, Police Let Him Go; Then He Killed A Woman: Court Docs

TREDYFFRIN, PA — A legally armed man called 911 thinking people were out to get him. After refusing mental health treatment, police let him go. He shot and killed a woman hours later in Tredyffrin, according to court documents Patch obtained.

Steve Jahn, 44, was charged with murder after authorities say he shot a woman at 10:47 p.m. Saturday on Contention Lane. The victim, whose name has been withheld, succumbed to her injuries the next night.

Investigators believe the victim was a stranger and the attack was random.

• Related: Woman Shot, Killed In Random Attack In Tredyffrin; Suspect In Custody: DA

In an affidavit of probable cause, authorities describe multiple incidents of the suspect behaving frantically before and after the shooting.

Investigators also found that he owned three guns — often stored in his pickup truck — which he was legally permitted to carry.

It begins with Tredyffrin police encountering him hours earlier.

Jahn Calls 911

About two hours before the shooting, Tredyffrin officers were called to PNC Bank (154 E Lancaster Ave.) for a well-being check. Dispatchers relayed that Jahn called 911 and stated he was being followed by multiple people and undercover officers, the affidavit says.

Jahn, who is listed as homeless but previously lived in Berwyn, told dispatchers he had a loaded revolver in his pickup truck's center console.

An officer spoke with Jahn, who presented "frantic behavior" and said people were going after him and following him, the affidavit says.

The officer suggested he voluntarily commit himself to Paoli Hospital for a mental-health evaluation, but he would need to surrender his guns. During this encounter, Jahn showed police a concealed carry permit.

Jahn initially refused treatment but then said he'd go to the hospital if he had an escort. Two Tredyffrin officers followed him to the hospital. But when they arrived, Jahn said the cars in the parking lot had been chasing him earlier, so he refused treatment, the affidavit says.

He was permitted to leave the scene.

The Shooting

Two hours later, a car struck a pole on Contention Lane, near Old State Road. The driver was slumped over the wheel with a gunshot wound to her head, the affidavit says.

Two people stopped to help. One called 911, and the other got into the passenger seat of the victim's vehicle, unbuckled her and helped carry her out when police arrived.

The victim was driven to Paoli Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:09 p.m. Sunday.

Detectives later obtained a neighbor's surveillance footage. It showed a pickup truck resembling Jahn's traveling the wrong way over the one-lane bridge on Contention Lane and Cold Stream Drive — up the road from the crime scene.

The footage captures audio of a gunshot at 10:40 p.m. Saturday — minutes before the shooting — but it isn't seen, the affidavit says.

Another neighbor had a baby monitor that captured audio of five gunshots at 10:56 p.m. The neighbor lives about 50 feet away from the shooting scene, the affidavit says.

The affidavit doesn't mention any footage that showed the shooting. But the videos presented to detectives helped them identify Jahn as the suspect, said Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe.

"Because we got so much video in so quickly, we were able to piece this together so quickly," Barrena-Sarobe said Monday at a news conference. "It's a tribute to everyone's partnership here."

Incidents Before Detainment

Easttown police were dispatched to a Berwyn home at 11:09 p.m. Saturday for a disturbance, the affidavit says.

The caller said their son and his friends had heard four gunshots. Then, they saw a man in the driveway who ripped his shirt off. About 10 minutes later, he left and then returned, driving slowly in a pickup truck.

The man, later identified as Jahn, was "amped up" and not speaking logically, the caller told police. The man cursed and yelled before driving off.

Detectives interviewed another witness early Sunday, who described the pickup truck. With the information, investigators identified Jahn's silver Chevrolet Silverado through license plate recognition cameras.

The technology showed that, within an hour after the shooting, Jahn drove back and forth throughout Tredyffrin, Easttown and Radnor, the affidavit says.

At 3:14 a.m. Sunday, Easttown police found Jahn's truck by Price and Kromer avenues, near a Berwyn home previously associated with the suspect, the affidavit says. Police secured the unoccupied vehicle as they awaited search-warrant approval.

Later that morning, Jahn went to a relative's home in Berwyn. The relative called 911 around 6:15 a.m. for a well-being check, saying Jahn was inside their home. Jahn told his relative that he believed someone was out to get him, the affidavit says.

Police detained Jahn outside the home.

Jahn's Words

A judge approved a search warrant, allowing detectives to search Jahn's vehicle late Sunday morning. They found a dashcam.

The footage showed Jahn driving around 6 p.m. Saturday while holding a semi-automatic handgun, the affidavit says.

At 8:17 p.m., he heard sirens while parked in the Paoli West Shopping Center lot on Lancaster Avenue. He put the gun in his glove compartment.

At 8:27 p.m., Jahn drove with the gun on his lap and said, "I ain't playin' no more, I ain't playin' no more mother f***ers," according to the affidavit. Then he took down the dashcam.

He called 911 nine minutes later, the affidavit says.

Jahn also made several unprovoked statements Sunday night while detained in a holding cell at the Tredyffrin Township Police Department, the affidavit says. An officer monitoring Jahn wrote them down.

Some of Jahn's statements were "erratic and nonsensical," the affidavit says. He commented on shooting at a car but says he didn't kill anyone, according to the document.

Here are some of Jahn's alleged statements that were shared in the affidavit:

• "Is she dead? Why am I in jail?"
• "None of this f***ing happened. Let me out."
• "I didn't kill all those and I didn't do that."
• "You guys f***ed with me enough the past few days."
• "Firing out of the window one time, but did not kill all those people, wouldn't do that."
• "I pulled the trigger at the car. I definitely did that, but I didn't do anything else. What the f***? Got me to admit that, can we move on to the next phase?"

Criminal Charges

Jahn was charged Monday with criminal homicide, first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possessing a weapon with intent to use it criminally.

He was denied bail Monday and remains incarcerated at the Chester County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for March 23.

Jahn did not have a listed attorney in public court records on Tuesday.

His past records only show a few driving violations and a 2022 citation for public drunkenness in Easttown, for which he paid a fine.