SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — According to testimony Wednesday, the Jan. 28 shooting at The Grove Apartments may have been the result of a drunken bet, but the defense questioned whether those bullets presented a real danger.

Free on $15,000 unsecured bond, Donald B. Siddall, 21, of New Castle, pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing before District Judge Joseph Nash. He is accused of shooting a gun from a third-story balcony in the complex.

By the hearing’s end, Nash moved forward both charges against Siddall, including misdemeanor reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. The latter charge was upgraded Wednesday after initially being a summary offense.

On behalf of Siddall, Public Defender Ryan Helsel asked for the reckless endangerment charge to be dismissed, claiming the “danger” needed to validate the charge was lacking in testimony heard Wednesday. He also said no buildings or people were hit by the bullets.

“We don’t feel anyone was actually in danger,” Helsel said following the hearing.

Countering Helsel’s argument, Assistant District Attorney David Beichner said Siddall admitted to drinking before firing the gun, which made his control of the weapon questionable.

“This would be a potentially different story if this was an individual shooting into a wooded area,” Beichner said. “However, this happened at night from a third-story balcony attached to a building housing other residents.”

During his testimony, Trooper Joshua Osche said he met with Siddall days after the shooting, at which point Siddall confessed to shooting his pistol off the balcony.

“He was offered $40 to fire his gun,” Osche said.

Osche said Siddall admitted to being drunk and shooting away from the apartment building and into a wooded area about 50 yards away.

According to Osche, the Weathervane community lies on the other side of the wooded area. Based on multiple witnesses statements, Osche believed four shots were fired.

During cross-examination, Helsel asked who was in danger. Osche replied that, being drunk, Siddall put the apartment complex’s community, as well as the neighborhood across the woods in danger.

“A 9mm has a pretty long lethal range,” Osche said. “It could have been anyone.”

A resident of the complex, Kaitlyn Young, also testified as a witness. She said she didn’t see the shooting occur and she doesn’t know where the shots were fired. She said she heard multiple shots that night, and she was the one who called police.

“I heard the gunshots, approximately three or four,” she said. “They were in rapid succession.”

According to Osche, he also later seized a 9mm Glock 43X pistol from Siddall, along with multiple magazines loaded with two different brands of ammunition, one of which was Sig Sauer.

Osche said he also had a receipt from Duke’s Sporting Goods showing Siddall’s purchase of the gun as well as a box of 20 rounds of Sig Sauer ammo.

“The total number of Sig Sauer bullets I recovered was 16 rounds,” Osche said.