After a burglar smashed a window to enter Mueller's Flower Shop in Elizabethtown last Dec. 27, police suggested that the owner replace the broken window with wired security glass.

The next night the burglar again returned to the flower shop at 55 N. Market St. He managed to break the new glass, but he cut himself doing so, and left blood at "multiple locations" at the crime scene, Elizabethtown police Detective John Emrick said.

Officer Luann Pearson, who is the police department's forensic expert, collected the blood samples along with fingerprint evidence.

Emrick eventually received reports from the Pennsylvania State Police laboratory that the blood DNA was consistent with the DNA profile of Matthew Kennedy, 24, of the 200 block of East Park Street, Elizabethtown.

A fingerprint left at the scene also matched up with Kennedy, Emrick said.

Emrick served a search warrant on Kennedy. Using the DNA sample, police confirmed that Kennedy was the person who left the blood at the scene, Emrick said.

On Tuesday, Elizabethtown police announced that Kennedy has been charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of criminal trespass, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in connection with the two burglaries.

Both burglaries occurred during overnight hours. On both occasions the suspect broke through the glass, entered the shop, and stole cash from the register, police said.

Another police investigation has led to charges against two Berks County men who allegedly stole aluminum tire rims in Adamstown, East Cocalico Township police said.

Elden Leslie Woolf III, 34, of Spring Street, West Lawn, and Justin Alan Reid, 18, Revere Boulevard, West Lawn, allegedly took six aluminum tire rims from a property in the first block of Willow Street in Adamstown, police said.

The rims, which were valued at $250, have not been recovered. Woolf and Reid have been charged with theft and criminal conspiracy, police said.

In Lancaster, police arrested a man who allegedly tried to get rid of a handgun when he saw an officer walking toward him outside a Manor Street home.

The .22-caliber derringer-style handgun went off when Dwayne Juwan Ross, 27, of 448 Beaver St., tossed it shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday outside a home at 455 Manor St., Officer Thomas J. Cole said.

A report of a domestic problem sent police to the home. A woman told police that Ross had broken a window with a piece of wood to enter the home. He also allegedly showed the woman the gun while he was there, police said.

When Ross saw Cole approaching, he walked away from the officer. Cole then heard a "bang" that sounded like a gunshot. Ross had thrown the gun, and it discharged when it hit the ground, police said.

Nobody was injured from the single shot. Cole charged Ross with carrying a firearm without a license, recklessly endangering another person, and criminal mischief.

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