PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pennsylvania State Police say a man prepared a sniper’s perch in an upstairs bedroom at his home before fatally shooting a trooper who arrived to investigate a domestic-abuse call.
Michael J. Smith arranged folded towels and blankets on a corner table to steady a hunting rifle that police believe he used to gun down Trooper Paul Richey on Wednesday.
Police believe Smith used the same weapon to kill his wife, Nancy Frey-Smith, and later himself. Their bodies were found in the home Wednesday evening.
Police believe the rifle is the same one Smith used to threaten his wife at her job 13 years ago. Police say they are trying to determine how the weapon was returned to Smith because it had been seized under a 1997 restraining order.
