Westmoreland County’s District Attorney said that police were justified in the fatal shooting of a man who was wielding a machete in a domestic incident earlier this month in Ligonier Township.
The Trib reports that 59-year-old Robbie Saunders had approached officers with the Ligonier Valley Police Department when he was shot once by officers and was declared dead at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center.
DA Nicole Ziccarelli said that the use of deadly force was justified as there was “an immediate and imminent threat…to responding police officers who were prepared to use their own resources to protect themselves and the lives of those around them.”
Saunders’ Son Johnathan had said that the encounter could have been de-escalated, and said that the outcome was a failure of the system and of police training.
Comments