MEADVILLE — A northwestern Pennsylvania man is jailed on assault, endangerment and other charges in connection with a police standoff prompted by a pump-action BB gun that police say looked like a shotgun.
Meadville police responded about 5:45 p.m. Sunday when two men reported that 47-year-old Anthony Dupont taunted them from his porch and then cocked the gun as though he planned to fire it.
When police responded and knocked on Dupont's apartment door he didn't answer. Fearing a confrontation, police evacuated other units in the building and eventually persuaded Dupont to surrender during a telephone call.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Dupont who is also charged with public drunkenness.
He remained in the Crawford County Jail Tuesday unable to post $50,000 bond and faces a preliminary hearing July 5.
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2 charged in teen's park killing
NEW CASTLE — Two men are in custody charged in the death of a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head.
Police arrested 22-year-old Christopher Nixon and 18-year-old James Nixon on Monday in the killing in a park in New Castle. It wasn't immediately clear if the men are related.
Investigators say the men killed Marcus McCauley on Saturday in Gaston Park. He was found shot in the head near a pavilion.
Christopher Nixon denied wrongdoing after following his arraignment.
Online court records do not list attorneys for either suspect. They are both being held without bail at Lawrence County Prison.
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Police: Man admitted killing mother
SNYDERSVILLE — Police say a northeastern Pennsylvania man charged with killing his mother told investigators he killed her because she verbally abused him.
Twenty-one-year old Christopher Strachn was bound over for trial Monday in the death of his mother, Adrienne.
A state police investigator said Christopher Strachn told him he'd choked and stabbed his mother because of verbal abuse and her household rules. He did not speak to the media following the hearing.
Authorities say Christopher Strachn called police after killing his mother on June 13. Trooper Joseph Campbell said Strachn told them he'd taken medication for a mental illness before the killing.
Family friends tell the Pocono Record of Stroudsburg Christopher Strachn's mother insisted on him staying at the home, not a treatment facility.
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Panhandler gives back money to Pittsburgh animal shelter
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh animal rescue shelter is publicizing a letter it got from an anonymous man who claims he wrongfully collected $35 in the group's name while panhandling.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Tuesday that the man acknowledged he committed "charity fraud" because he kept the money that he claimed to be collecting for the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania.
So, he sent $35 to the group — the amount he claims he collected under false pretenses — along with a letter signed simply, "A man trying to improve his life."
The shelter's staff says they received the letter months ago but recently posted it on their Facebook page to let the man know all is forgiven.
Meadow Fallon, the staffer who opened the letter, says it "kind of restores your faith in humanity."
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Pittsburgh police ID man dead after shooting mom
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police have identified a 55-year-old man who apparently shot himself to death after he called 911 to report that he had shot his mother.
Police spokeswoman Diane Richard says detectives believe 55-year-old Harry Sunder may have been having work-related problems before he called 911 about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday to report that he shot his mother and would be waiting for police to arrive to kill him.
A dispatcher stayed on the line even after the man stopped speaking and heard a gunshot.
Police believe that was the sound of Sunder shooting himself, because police found him dead on the porch.
Sunder's 73-year-old mother was shot in the eye, twice in the shoulder and twice in the torso, but was expected to survive.
Police are not releasing her name, but say she's being treated at a hospital.
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Police: Firefighters find burning body in Philly
PHILADELPHIA — Police say firefighters called to an apparent trash fire in Philadelphia discovered a man's burning body.
Homicide detectives are investigating the discovery of a body early Tuesday morning in Northeast Philadelphia.
Investigators say the man's arms, leg and neck were bound and he was tied to a heavy floor jack.
An autopsy is planned for Tuesday.
Police say they're checking private surveillance cameras in the area to see if they provide any clues.
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Lawyers for Catholic church official seek house arrest
PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic church official convicted of child endangerment will remain in jail Tuesday while his lawyers seek his release on house arrest.
Monsignor William Lynn has been in custody since a jury found him guilty Friday of felony child endangerment. The charges stem from Lynn's handling of clergy-abuse claims at the Philadelphia archdiocese.
The 61-year-old Lynn is the first U.S. church official convicted in the cover-up of child sex-abuse complaints. He plans to appeal.
The defense will ask a judge to let him live with a family friend in northeast Philadelphia, because his relatives don't live in the city, as required for house arrest.
Lynn faces 3-1/2 to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 13.
Lynn served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004.
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Packaging plant to lay off 53 of 125
FRANKLIN — A packaging and labeling plant in northwestern Pennsylvania plans to lay off 53 of 125 workers because it's moving one of two departments at the plant to other locations.
Officials with WS Packaging Inc. did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday from The Associated Press, but The Derrick of Oil City reports the layoffs will occur by Aug. 31 at the plant in Sandycreek Township, near Franklin. That's about 70 miles north of Pittsburgh.
A company spokesman tells the newspaper that the affected workers will receive severance pay and help finding other jobs.
It was not immediately clear where some of the jobs will be shifted.
Parent company WS Packaging Group Inc. is based in Green Bay, Wis. The company's web site says it has 19 locations in 11 states and Mexico.
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Pa. Game Commission banding Canada geese near Erie
ERIE — Pennsylvania Game Commission staff and volunteers will be busy near Erie putting leg bands on Canada geese that have landed there and are temporarily unable to fly.
The gees can't fly because they're shedding their outer feathers at this time of year, so the volunteers will simply use kayaks to shoo the birds from the water so the volunteers can grab them on land and place a band on one leg of each bird.
The Erie Times-News says the Bird Banding Laboratory keeps track of the age, gender and location of the banded birds. They rely on hunters and anyone else who may capture or kill a banded bird to report its location.
By tracking that data, game officials can keep tabs on the geese population and the birds' migratory habits.



