Rapist reined in. (Exercising the Right).

Between September 25th and October 8th in the East End area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, six women (ages 14 to 33) were assaulted by a violent deviate who would approach them from behind while they were walking, try to make conversation, threaten them (in most instances) with a firearm, then sexually assault (or attempt to assault) them.

On October 10th he struck again. Charmaine Dunbar, 42, was walking her dog at around 4 a.m. when a man approached her from behind, pointed a rifle at her, and threatened to shoot her. Dunbar, a Pittsburgh University security guard, pleaded for her life, then bolted and ran while screaming for someone to call the police. The assailant, apparently startled by her response, fled. Dunbar returned to her home, reported the incident to police, and about 90 minutes later went Out for another walk--this time bringing along her .357 caliber revolver.

Before long, she noticed two men chatting on a corner. As she walked up a hill, one of them approached her from behind. When he caught up with her she realized that he was the same man who had threatened her earlier. As reported by the October 12th Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the man then pointed a .22-caliber rifle at her, and said, "How would you like me to shoot you?"

In response, Dunbar pulled her own gun and opened fire, striking the stranger twice in the abdomen. He fell to the ground, and once again Dunbar yelled for someone to call the police. When they arrived, they found the rifle where the wounded man had dropped it, and subsequently confirmed that it had been stolen from a home in East Liberty two days earlier.

The assailant--identified as Daniel Wesley, 27--was taken to a local hospital where he underwent surgery the next morning. On October 14th, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. announced that all six of the previous assault victims had identified him from photos as the man who had attacked them. Wesley was charged with 23 offenses ranging from assault to rape.

As the Post-Gazette began its October 15th update of the incident, "A pistol-packing woman accomplished with two bullets what Pittsburgh police had been attempting to do for days: to stop the man suspected of a string of sexual assaults...."