Man sentenced to life in Tunnelton gun shop shooting
A Saltsburg man who shot and killed an Indiana County gun shop owner to cover up an alleged extortion scheme described his actions as “inexcusable, horrific and thoughtless” in court Monday.
Jack O. Edmundson, 45, offered an apology to the family of the man he killed, Frank S. Petro, 62, during his guilty plea to first-degree murder.
“While I don't ask for forgiveness, I know that day left a black hole in all our lives,” Edmundson said in a prepared statement during the hearing. “I accept the consequences that the court is about to impose.”
Edmundson was sentenced to life in a state prison by Judge William Martin in Indiana County court.
Janet Petro didn't address Edmundson in her statement to the court, but focused on her husband and his good deeds, according to District Attorney Patrick Dougherty.
“She misses him every day,” Dougherty said.
As part of a plea agreement, Dougherty will not seek the death penalty against Edmundson. The remaining charges against Edmundson in Petro's Dec. 31, 2013 death — attempted arson, aggravated assault, robbery and theft — and four other pending criminal cases against him were dropped.
“He will never see the outside of a jail ever again,” Dougherty said.
Edmundson was ordered to pay $15,339 in restitution to Petro's family.
Edmundson admitted to shooting Petro four times in his Tunnelton shop, Frank's Gun & Taxidermy. He had said that the shooting was in self-defense, but video surveillance taken in the shop showed that Edmundson grabbed a small-caliber gun and shot Petro during a brief argument, according to investigators.
“He was remorseful from the very beginning of the case,” said defense attorney Gary Knaresboro. “He was remorseful and embarrassed by what he did.”
Edmundson, a former police officer, attempted to set fire to the shop after the shooting, investigators said.
The shooting was after Edmundson had portrayed himself as an undercover investigator who was helping police probe illegal raffle tickets for community groups that Petro purportedly was selling, police said. Edmundson allegedly convinced Petro to turn over money from winning tickets to make the purported case “go away,” investigators said.
Police contended that the New Year's Eve confrontation occurred when Petro learned he was being swindled and that Edmundson wasn't involved in a legitimate investigation.
Petro is said to have turned over $146,000 to Edmundson in winnings from tickets during the final months of 2013, according to police. Police said Edmundson used the money for trips to casinos and made a few large deposits into a savings account around that time.
Charges related to the extortion case were among those dropped Monday as part of the plea. Other cases dropped included:
• A Jan. 6 attempt to escape from the Indiana County Jail.
• A burglary and theft of $17,000 worth of jewelry and coins at a Saltsburg home on Dec. 28, 2012.
• An unlawful restraint case where Edmundson had been accused of posing as a policeman and handcuffing a teenager who Edmundson said had thrown corn at his car.
Edmundson has been a paramedic, volunteer firefighter and deputy coroner. In the 1990s, Edmundson was a police officer with the Lancaster County Drug Task Force. In 1998, he was fired after he was convicted of theft for stealing $7,500 worth of platinum coins from a suspected drug dealer's safe deposit box, along with a telephone calling card he used in Western Pennsylvania.
Online court records show he was sentenced to serve up to two years in the Lancaster County jail on charges related to that crime.
Renatta Signorini is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.
