Ligonier Valley police justified in fatal shooting of man with machete, DA says

Police were justified in their fatal shooting of a man armed with a machete in a July 2 domestic incident in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli said Friday.

Westmoreland County detectives said Robbie Thomas Saunders, 59, aggressively approached two Ligonier Valley Police Department officers and was shot once by police at a home on Gravel Hill Road. Saunders was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Hospital in Johnstown where he died.

A news release from Ziccarelli’s office issued Friday indicated the use of deadly force was justified because “an immediate and imminent threat was posed to responding police officers who were prepared to use their own resources to protect themselves and the lives of those around them.”

Saunders’ son, Jonathan Faidley of Centerville, Crawford County, has suggested that the encounter between police and his father could have been de-escalated. He claims that the fatal outcome demonstrated “a failure of the system and a failure of police training.”

Faidley, an Army airborne combat veteran, expressed frustration that he has been unable to gain access to a police report of the fatal incident and was unable to view his father’s body before he was buried.

According to Faidley, his father was “severely disabled, to the point where he had to be on dialysis. And his ammonia levels spiked to the point where it caused a psychotic break.

“He was arrested once before when it happened. They arrested him before and let him out.”

Faidley said he believes that if his father had been institutionalized previously, the July 2 incident never would have occurred.

“It shouldn’t be that police in this country can just kill you,” he said. “That’s not protecting and serving.”

Saunders had a history of substance abuse and a felony conviction, his son said, which made it difficult for him to find a job and had caused him to consider moving from the area.

Ziccarelli indicated her finding was based on a review of videos from the scene, witness interviews and other evidence.

No officers were harmed in the incident just before 4 p.m. Both Ligonier Valley officers were placed on administrative protocol while county detectives investigated.

Citing Pennsylvania law, Ziccarelli said deadly force by a police officer is justified “to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person” or “to defeat … the escape of a person who possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.”

The incident began with a call to 911 reporting that a man inside the home had a machete and was threatening to kill a woman inside.

The officers arrived to find two people unharmed outside the house and were told Saunders was still inside the house and believed to be armed.

Body camera footage showed Saunders with a 14-inch machete in his hand, which he raised above his head while aggressively approaching within feet of the officers, Ziccarelli said.

Saunders didn’t comply when he was ordered to drop the weapon, and he ultimately was shot, she said.

The officers rendered aid to Saunders while medical personnel were summoned to the scene, according to Ziccarelli.