Rookie West Chester police officer first on scene at courthouse shooting

WEST CHESTER — Officer Ryan McMillen was a new recruit to the West Chester Police Department in January 2023, four months on the job and still in the training  phase, when he found himself smack in the middle of a shooting in the heart of the downtown business district.

McMillen was the first officer on the scene of the shooting in front of of the Historic Chester County Courthouse that is the subject of a trial in Common Pleas Court. On Friday, he told the jurors hearing the case that what first appeared to him to be a back-and-forth argument between men turned near-deadly.

Testimony in the trial of Vaughn Yanko is expected to continue in Judge Allison Bell Royer’s courtroom on Monday. The trial began with jury selection on Tuesday, and features competing scenarios about what occurred that night from the prosecution and defense.

Yanko, 23, of Thornbury is charged with attempted first degree murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and possession of an instrument of a crime. He is represented by West Chester defense attorney Daniel Bush, who has contended that his client was attacked by a larger group of men and was forced to defend himself.

To the lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Bridget Gallagher, however, it was Yanko who had baited his victim, Ivon Bennett, into a confrontation, only to surprise him with a gunshot.

Yanko and Bennett were part of two groups of men who faced off against each other around 2:15 a.m. on Jan 22, 2023 on the front plaza of the courthouse on North High Street, after apparently exchanging “trash talk” about who should get to flirt with some girls that were walking past the local landmark and an Eagles game that had been played earlier.

Bennett and his teammates from the University of Valley Forge had played a game in New Jersey the previous day, and had come to the borough to get food from a popular calzone spot and go to one of the borough’s bars.

McMillen, in his testimony, said he was on patrol on the night shift from Jan. 21, to Jan. 22, 2023 when he found himself parked at the intersection of West Market and North High streets, watching as the bars emptied out for the evening. To his left, he heard a disturbance in the courthouse area.

“I looked over and saw two groups,” he said under questioning by Gallagher. “I just heard arguing between them. But then as he drove his patrol car onto High Street to investigate, “I observed one of the males throw a punch at another male.

Then, as he approached, “I heard a single gunshot.”

It is undisputed that Yanko, a Temple University student who had been out with a cousin celebrating his birthday, pulled a handgun from his coat and fired a single shot into Bennett’s abdomen. The New Jersey native was rushed to the hospital but nearly lost his life. He spent the next five months in intensive care, in and out of a coma, and was in rehab for another five.

Jurors watched the video of McMillen’s body camera as he rounds up the seven members of the basketball team at the corner of North High and West Gay streets, where they had run after the shot was fired. At one point, Bennett is seen approaching him, lifting up his sweatshirt to show where he had been struck by Yanko’s bullet.

McMillen focused his attention on one of the men he thought had thrown the punch he saw, but who later turned out to be Adonnis McGill, who testified Thursday that he had not.

McMillen asked McGill what had happened in the fight, and he responded that, “We were just walking. And a white guy started yelling things. Then he just shot.”

What was the reaction of the men he patted down at the corner after the shooting, Gallagher asked McMillan. “I’d say probably frightened,” he answered. “They were hyper about what had just happened. The one who had been shot, he was quite scared.”

“Did you hear anyone yell for help?” Gallagher asked.

“I did not,” the officer replied.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.