Cops: Couple jailed on $200K bond after chase, shooting near Saltsburg

A Westmoreland County woman and her boyfriend were jailed on $200,000 bond each after a vehicle chase and shooting Wednesday.

The incident began in Indiana County and ended along Route 981 in Westmoreland County, according to state police.

Cheyenne S. Nipps, 21, of Loyalhanna Township, and her boyfriend, Steven Aukerman, 24, of Blairsville, were arraigned on multiple charges of attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangering and tampering with evidence in connection with the incident that occurred about 7:10 p.m.

Trooper Daniel Pickard of the Kiski station said the incident began in Saltsburg where a red van driven by Aukerman attempted to cut off a car driven by an adult male with a 15-year-old boy and another adult passenger inside near the Saltsburg Bridge into Westmoreland, heading north on Route 981.

“Nipps then proceeded to discharge two rounds from a .40-caliber handgun toward the victim’s vehicle,” Pickard said in court documents.

One round struck the pavement, but the second round struck a front passenger tire causing it to deflate, according to court documents.

The driver was able to pull off into a parking lot, where he called state police.

No one was injured, Pickard said.

Troopers could not locate the gun when they interviewed Aukerman and Nipps hours later, but they did retrieve both .40-caliber shell casings from the pavement along Route 981, and the bullet that struck the tire, Pickard said.

Aukerman and Nipps were ordered held in the county prison after they each failed to post $200,000 bond set by New Kensington District Judge Frank Pallone. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled.