On October 3, 2024, in Duncansville, Pennsylvania, 60-year-old Zachary Scott Smola was shot and killed by his neighbor, 51-year-old David Jenkins. The shooting happened at about 6:30 p.m. on Longview Drive while Smola was operating a lawn tractor. Witnesses described a confrontation in which Jenkins pulled Smola off the mower, attempted to choke him, and then retrieved an AR-47 rifle from his vehicle and shot Smola in the head from roughly 10 feet away. Neighbors reported hearing a loud bang and seeing Jenkins’ white Ford Focus leave the scene with Smola lying in the roadway. Jenkins drove to the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Hollidaysburg and turned himself in minutes later, reportedly saying he was there to turn himself in for murder.

Jenkins told authorities he had filed a private criminal complaint on September 17, 2024, alleging that Smola had molested him and his sister about 40 years earlier, and he had contacted the Blair County District Attorney’s Office the day of the shooting about the complaint. Those abuse allegations are under investigation. Jenkins was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, aggravated assault, weapons offenses and related counts; some charges, including strangulation and tampering with evidence, were dismissed at a preliminary hearing on October 17, 2024. He remains in custody at the Blair County Prison without bail.

Did anyone in the Duncansville area know either man or see the events on Longview Drive that evening?