By Michael Aubele and Jennifer Bails Staff writers KISKI TOWNSHIP: A township woman admitted to fatally shooting her husband in the head while he slept in their California Avenue home Monday afternoon, according to police. Coal miner Dennis Ross, 51, was killed in bed by his 49-year-old wife, Diane, who fired a single bullet into her husband's head with a high-powered hunting rifle, Kiski Township Patrolman Jerrod Thompson said. Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower pronounced Ross dead at the scene of a gunshot wound to the head. The incident occurred about 1:50 p.m. Monday in the first-floor bedroom of the Ross' home at 976 California Ave., which sits off Route 56 about 1 mile east of the Apollo line in a sparsely populated area. Diane Ross called Armstrong County 911 immediately after she killed her husband, according to Bower. She remained on the telephone with the emergency dispatcher until Thompson arrived at their house, Bower said. Ross cooperated with township police while being arrested at gunpoint and subsequently confessed to the killing, Thompson said. "I took the gun," Ross told police, according to the criminal complaint filed with Leechburg District Justice Michael Gerheim. "I never shot a gun before and boom, he's dead, he's dead, I killed him," the suspect reportedly said. Ross was later arraigned on charges of criminal homicide before the magistrate. She was being held Monday night without bond in the Armstrong County Jail. Numerous members of the victim's family went to the house Monday afternoon, although none would comment except for his sister, who said, "My sister-in-law shot and killed my brother." One of the Ross' neighbors, an elderly man who asked not to be identified, said he didn't hear a gunshot Monday from his home about 300 yards away. The neighbor also said he had never heard the couple argue, although they kept largely to themselves. Prior to Monday, township police had never been called to the Ross' home for a domestic dispute of any kind, Thompson said. Thompson refused to discuss a possible motive for the shooting, referring all questions to District Attorney Scott Andreassi, who could not be reached for comment late Monday. But according to the criminal complaint form filed with Gerheim, Ross told police that she killed her husband to end his suffering from an unknown medical condition. "He was in so much pain," Ross said to police, according to the complaint. "I'm tired of him being in pain." Michael Aubele can be reached at maubele@tribweb.com. Jennifer Bails can be reached at jbails@tribweb.com.

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