Darrell Long was found guilty of attempted homicide and four other offenses after a two-day Lebanon County trial.

LEBANON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania jury convicted Darrell Long of attempted homicide after prosecutors said he broke into his ex-wife’s North Lebanon Township home, attacked her as she awoke from a nap and shot her five times while she fought to survive. The Sept. 22 verdict followed a two-day trial focused largely on whether Long intended to kill Dawn Long during the March 25, 2025, attack.

The Lebanon County jury also found Long, 63, guilty of two aggravated assault counts, burglary and harassment. Prosecutors argued that the shooting was the culmination of threats and escalating hostility toward his former wife, including messages sent through the couple’s child after Dawn Long blocked direct electronic contact. Long did not dispute at trial that he shot her, according to local reporting, but his defense argued that he intended to hurt her rather than kill her. The jury rejected that distinction after deliberating for a little more than an hour. Long is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9 before Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles Jones Jr.

The verdict resolved the central question prosecutors had built their case around: what Long intended when he entered a home where he no longer had a legal right to be and confronted his sleeping ex-wife with a loaded .22-caliber firearm. Authorities said Dawn Long had returned home from work and fallen asleep on a couch. She testified that she woke to find her former husband standing over her. Prosecutors said Long struck her in the face with the firearm and then began shooting. Investigators initially recovered four .22-caliber shell casings, while later testimony and medical evidence established that Dawn Long had been struck by five bullets in her arms and legs.

The shooting quickly became a prolonged struggle inside the living room. District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said Long first shot Dawn Long twice in her left leg. Dawn fought back, kicking him away and trying to gain control of the gun. When the weapon was pointed toward her face, she reached for it with her left hand and was shot through that hand, seriously damaging her index finger. She continued resisting with her other arm and managed to force Long to the floor. Prosecutors said the firearm malfunctioned or its magazine became dislodged during the confrontation, creating a brief opening in which Dawn again tried to disarm him.

That effort did not end the attack. According to Hess Graf’s account of the trial evidence, Long got the gun working again and shot Dawn in the right arm. By then, she had been wounded in several limbs and was losing the ability to continue fighting. She began pulling herself toward a bedroom, hoping to create distance and get behind a door. Prosecutors said Long shot her again in the right leg before she reached safety. Dawn was ultimately able to barricade herself inside the bedroom and activate an emergency call through her Apple Watch. Authorities said the 911 call came at about 5:17 p.m.

Long left the residence before police arrived. The district attorney said evidence indicated he locked the door as he departed, a detail prosecutors used in arguing that he was not trying to summon help for the woman he had shot. Police and emergency medical personnel found Dawn suffering from gunshot wounds to her arms and legs. She was taken to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and underwent multiple surgeries. Hess Graf later said some of the damage will be permanent. Dawn continues to have pain, has lasting injuries to her left hand and leg, and still has a bullet lodged in her femur, according to the prosecutor.

Long turned himself in within hours of the shooting. The Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office said in its initial announcement that he admitted entering his ex-wife’s home without permission, striking her with the firearm and shooting her multiple times. Court filings reviewed by authorities showed that the residence had been the marital home, but the couple separated and formally divorced in October 2023. Long acknowledged during questioning that he did not have a legal right to enter the residence, prosecutors said. The burglary charge therefore became an important part of the state’s account of a deliberate entry followed by an armed attack rather than an argument that unexpectedly became violent.

Prosecutors also relied heavily on communications made before the shooting. After Dawn blocked Long from contacting her directly, authorities said he began sending messages to their child that were intended to reach her. Hess Graf said jurors heard about 23 hostile messages sent during the month before the attack. One message, sent 17 days before the shooting, referred to Long having a line of sight into the residence and suggested that the couple’s child could lose both parents. Another communication sent days before the shooting warned that a reckoning was approaching. Prosecutors presented the messages as evidence that the attack had been preceded by threats rather than arising spontaneously.

The dispute over child support also figured prominently in the prosecution’s explanation of the events leading to the shooting. Hess Graf said Dawn had sought child support after the divorce and that Long reacted with intense anger after receiving paperwork connected to that proceeding. Authorities documented a final message sent to the couple’s child shortly after the 911 call in which Long complained about losing his job, the division of property and child-support obligations while blaming Dawn for his circumstances. The message included the phrase “life for a life.” Prosecutors argued that the communications, taken together with his entry into the home carrying a gun, supported the attempted-homicide charge.

The jury also heard evidence about Long’s statements after his arrest. Local reporting on the trial said prosecutors played recorded calls from the Lebanon County Correctional Facility in which Long spoke about the shooting and minimized Dawn’s injuries. Some recordings included statements that prosecutors characterized as boasting, including an assertion that he was glad he shot her and comments making light of violence against women. Hess Graf later said Long portrayed himself as a “hero” and continued to blame Dawn for what happened. The recordings gave jurors evidence of Long’s own words after the attack, beyond the physical evidence and the threatening messages that preceded it.

The defense focused on the specific intent required for attempted first-degree homicide. According to local coverage and a post-trial interview with Hess Graf, Long’s attorney argued that the evidence showed an intent to inflict serious pain and injury, not an intent to cause death. That argument had some support in statements attributed to Long after his arrest in which he described wanting Dawn to suffer. Prosecutors countered that firing repeatedly during a sustained attack, including while Dawn was trying to escape, supported an inference that he intended to kill her. The jury’s guilty verdict on attempted homicide showed that jurors accepted the prosecution’s interpretation of his intent.

For Dawn Long, the verdict came about 18 months after the shooting and after a recovery involving four surgeries, according to prosecutors. Hess Graf said Dawn had been focused on obtaining accountability since the attack. The district attorney said the physical consequences remain significant even as Dawn has otherwise made substantial progress. Her ability to resist Long, reach a room she could barricade and place an emergency call became a central part of the trial record, while prosecutors emphasized that her survival did not lessen the seriousness of the conduct the jury was asked to evaluate.

Long remains awaiting sentencing. Hess Graf has said she intends to seek the maximum consecutive punishment available, while local reporting said the prosecution expects Long to appeal the verdict. No sentencing outcome had been reported as of Nov. 8. His Dec. 9 hearing will determine the prison term imposed for the attempted-homicide conviction and the additional offenses arising from the attack.

Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.