Bryan D. Collar, a 26-year-old White/Caucasian male from East Brady, Pennsylvania, died on Sunday, May 4, 2014, after what authorities described as an apparent attempted homicide-suicide in Clarion County. Online reports place the incident in East Brady Borough, not Pittsburgh, and identify Collar as the person who entered the home of his estranged girlfriend’s family during the early morning hours.
The violence unfolded around 2:30 a.m.
when police said Collar forced his way into the residence where his estranged girlfriend lived with her parents. He was reportedly armed with several guns when he entered the home. Investigators said the situation quickly turned dangerous when Collar shot his estranged girlfriend’s 59-year-old mother, wounding her in the leg. The woman survived the shooting.
Police said Collar also attempted to shoot the woman’s 61-year-old husband, but the father was able to confront and disarm him. After that struggle, authorities said Collar turned a gun on himself. Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer identified Collar as the shooter and said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Because Collar died at the scene, there were no arrests, criminal charges, trial, or conviction connected to his death. The publicly available accounts name Collar himself as the suspect in the break-in and shooting. The case was reported by authorities as an attempted homicide-suicide rather than an unsolved killing, with the surviving victim being the mother of Collar’s estranged girlfriend.
Outside the circumstances of the incident, obituary information described Collar as someone born in Kittanning on October 20, 1987, the son of Harry M. “Flea” Collar and Linda C. Delaney Collar. He was a 2006 graduate of Karns City High School and worked with Laborers Union Local No. 952 in Kittanning. He was remembered as someone who enjoyed hunting, fishing, riding ATVs, and spending time with friends.
