Fugitive in custody after fight with deputies, troopers in rural Westmoreland County

A New Florence man acquitted in the 2015 killing of a St. Clair Township police officer was taken into custody late Tuesday in rural Westmoreland County after fighting with county sheriff’s deputies and state troopers, authorities said.

Ray A. Shetler Jr., 37, was taken into custody at a mobile home near Seward before midnight, Sheriff James Albert said. He had been wanted since Friday when a judge issued an arrest warrant.

On Wednesday, state police charged Shetler with aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

“We believe he was on methamphetamine, and he put up a struggle. One of my deputies was injured as they took him into custody when he refused to surrender, and Shetler was also injured,” Albert said.

The deputy suffered suffered head and shoulder injuries after being headbutted by Shetler, Albert said. He was treated and released at the hospital.

Shetler also suffered multiple injuries and broken bones in his face, including a fractured eye socket. He was taken to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville for treatment.

“Shetler is being transferred to UPMC Mercy hospital sometime (Wednesday) morning for surgery,” Albert said.

Law enforcement received a tip that Shetler was still in the area, including where he might be staying, Albert said. After 10 p.m. Tuesday, deputies and troopers surrounded the mobile home, but “(Shetler) was extremely resistant and fought as he was taken into custody,” Albert said.

Sheriff’s officials reported that deputies and troopers had checked about six residences before locating the mobile home where Shetler was hiding.

According to court documents, the owner of the mobile home on the 200 block of Shrum Hill Road, Kenneth Krouse, denied Shetler was inside but gave officers permission to search. Krouse has not been charged.

Albert said troopers and the sheriff’s department’s warrant task force set up a perimeter around the home and two troopers and one deputy went inside.

While searching one of the bedrooms, the officers located Shetler hiding beneath a folded futon covered with blankets, according to court documents. State police Trooper Daniel Poponick said when the deputy leaned over to take Shetler into custody, he was “headbutted” by Shetler, “causing the deputy to lose his handcuffs and flashlight.”

“(Shetler) resisted. We did not anticipate this would be as much of a problem when we first went in there,” Albert said. “People often ask me why do you need two, three, sometimes four people to go in to arrest somebody.

“When you get someone who’s on meth, his pain tolerance is high, he appears to have his strength enhanced. That’s why it takes so many people.”

Shetler’s mother, Lorie Porter, on Wednesday criticized the amount of force police used to take her son into custody.

“Although (police) promised that this would not happen, it’s exactly what did happen. He was scared to turn himself in,” Porter said by phone.

“All of this … a broken eye socket, broken bones in his face … was all over a probation violation,” she said. “My son was found not guilty. … Twelve people found him not guilty of killing that policeman, and they did it for a reason.”

Porter said police were not forthcoming about which hospital her son was undergoing his operation and post-operative recuperation in.

Albert denied officers abused Shetler. He said Shetler was the aggressor and the officers were defending themselves.

Albert said he had not received a report from the warrant unit and did not know whether any firearms were recovered inside the mobile home. He also did not know whether any contraband was confiscated at the scene.

Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio signed a warrant for Shetler’s arrest after he failed to appear for a court hearing Friday. Prosecutors contend he violated terms of his probation sentence for theft and receiving stolen property convictions related to the homicide case.

Shetler’s attorney from his murder trial, Mark Daffner of Pittsburgh, formally withdrew this week as his attorney.

After a six-day trial in 2018, jurors found Shetler not guilty of first- and third-degree murder for the Nov. 28, 2015, shooting death of Officer Lloyd Reed, 54, of Hollsopple, Somerset County, as he responded to a domestic violence call.

Reed, a part-time officer, was first on the scene at Shetler’s Ligonier Street home in neighboring New Florence after Shetler’s live-in girlfriend called 911 for help. Witnesses said Reed came upon Shetler, who was holding a rifle, and demanded he drop the weapon. Shetler refused to comply, and Reed fired six times.

Shetler fired three rounds from the rifle, one of which struck Reed under his left arm and just beyond his bulletproof vest.

The defense maintained Shetler did not know the armed man in his front yard was a police officer.

Witnesses said Shetler fled after the shooting, swimming across the nearby Conemaugh River and dumping some clothing and the rifle in a ditch on a power plant’s property. He was arrested after a six-hour manhunt.

The jury found him guilty of two theft counts for stealing a vehicle during his getaway. He was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail and five years’ probation.