A man is accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in a Pennsylvania hotel room and then traveling to New Jersey to target her family, authorities said.
Orenthia Upshur, 51, of Trenton, N.J., has been arrested on murder and related charges in the death of Maisha Coon, 49.
Coon, also from Trenton, was found dead early Wednesday morning at the Sleep Inn & Suites in Bensalem, Pa.
The investigation began just before 5 a.m. when an unidentified man contacted Pennsylvania State Police to report that Upshur had visited his house and confessed to killing Coon in a hotel.
Upshur, who didn’t specify the hotel, was “armed with a handgun [and] acting erratically,” according to the man, described as a “family member” of the victim, Bensalem Public Safety Director William McVey said Thursday at a press conference.
The man also told investigators that he’d been on the phone with Coon around midnight when he heard her saying, “I didn’t think you would harm me” and “Please don’t do this to me.”
After tracing the victim’s cellphone to an area near Street Road and Route 1 in Bucks County, investigators conducted a “large-scale law enforcement search” of the area.
Coon was found dead at approximately 10:30 a.m. in a room she had booked at the Sleep Inn on Street Road.
Around the same time, authorities in Trenton received a call from an Uber rider reporting that a man was firing shots from a pickup truck. Officials reported to the area and heard six additional rounds. While police attempted to locate the shooter, another 911 call reported a burglary in progress on Oak Lane.
Police later determined Upshur had barricaded himself inside the second floor of the residence. He was eventually arrested by Mercer County’s Tactical Response Team.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said Upshur wanted “to harm and take the lives” of the victim’s family.
“He intended to harm Ms. Coon even beyond the grave,” Schorn said.
Coon was described by friends as a devoted mother and a fun and loyal friend.
Upshur is facing charges of murder and related offenses in Pennsylvania, officials said. He will also be charged with criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault on law enforcement officers and burglary for the incidents in New Jersey.
