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A Bristol woman was denied a new EBT card. She opened fire at a state assistance office, police say.

April Precha posted on Facebook that there was going to be a shooting inside a Bucks County welfare office Thursday. She later opened fire at that location, according to police.

April Precha shot into a Bucks County welfare office out of frustration that she couldn't replace her EBT card, police said.
April Precha shot into a Bucks County welfare office out of frustration that she couldn't replace her EBT card, police said.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

A Bristol woman, frustrated that she couldn’t immediately replace an EBT card she said had been stolen, shot into a Bucks County welfare office early Thursday, police said.

April Precha, 37, was charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, firearms violations, and related crimes after police said she shot once into the office on Veterans Highway in Bristol, shattering its front window. No one was injured.

Precha remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bail. There was no indication she had hired an attorney.

Caseworkers at the office told police that Precha had seemed agitated when she entered the location Thursday morning, according to the affidavit of probable cause for her arrest. When she was told she couldn’t receive a replacement EBT card without a police report indicating it had been stolen, Precha became irate and asked for a manager, the affidavit said.

While in the office, Precha made posts on her personal Facebook page about her frustration, including one that said “It’s gonna be the first shooting in Bucks County Assistant [sic] Office if I don’t get my food stamp card today on God,” according to the affidavit. Precha later deleted that post.

Eventually, Precha walked out of the facility into its parking lot, continuing to yell and make agitated hand gestures, the affidavit said. One worker at the office said he heard a loud “pop” and looked up to see the window near the front of the office shattered. Precha was seen running away from the office toward a nearby Taco Bell.

Police later recovered two fragments of a bullet inside the office and a single shell casing from the parking lot.

Precha was not legally allowed to possess a gun because of a 2015 conviction in Philadelphia for an armed robbery of a vehicle, court records show.