Who is Kayla Menne? Pennsylvania mom opens fire at her child's foster family after traveling 200 miles in a Lyft
KENNEDY TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA: A Pennsylvania woman allegedly fired nine gunshots at her child's foster family while yelling, "They took my baby!" She apparently confronted them after travelling more than 200 miles in a Lyft. According to investigators, Kayla Menne, 25, travelled more than 200 miles from Central Pennsylvania to Kennedy Township, where her biological child was living with caregivers, using the ridesharing service Lyft.
A witness who was walking his dog, Duane Mrazec, noticed the woman emerge from a red car holding what appeared to be a gun. Four young children, including her own child, were outside on the street with their foster parents when Menne allegedly started shooting at them in a matter of seconds, according to the alarmed neighbour, as reported by DailyMail.
'You took my baby!'
Mrazek told WPXI, "I was 4 to 6 feet away when she shot; I can see the flash at 6pm at night in that gun because that's how close she was." He initially believed it to be a toy gun, but when she shot at him, he quickly understood it was not a joke. "You took my baby!" was heard being shouted by Menne as the shots were being fired, according to Mrazec.
He claims that he tackled her to the ground without thinking and wrestled the gun away from her. He said, "Everything went blank because I wanted to get the gun before somebody got killed."
'She fired nine rounds, and that's all she had..'
He added, "She fired nine rounds, and that's all she had, and it clicked because I didn't know if she had a magazine. I went and grabbed the gun, kind of wrestled around with her, took her into the yard, got on top of her, wrestled her, couldn't get the gun off of her. She was so strong."
Another neighbor, an off-duty police officer, ran toward the house as the two struggled on the ground. Mrazec said, "She apologized to me because I wasn't supposed to be the target, and she was saying something about her kid and then 'arrest me, arrest me," as reported by WTAE.
Menne was restrained by the two until police arrived
Menne was restrained by the two until police arrived. Her mental health was assessed at Heritage Valley Hospital. According to court records, Menne is accused of several offences, including aggravated assault, reckless endangerment of another person, unlawful possession of a firearm, and simple assault.
According to the court documents, the current foster family says that one of Menne's children was previously taken away from another foster family because she was threatening their lives and "sending suspicious packages."
