Man arrested after police use megaphone, flash bangs outside Latrobe home

Police used a megaphone and flash bangs Tuesday morning at a Latrobe home where they believed an armed man was holed up with a gun, blocking off the neighborhood for about an hour.

Peter A. Letso, 49, came out of the Oak Street home after a police dog handler told him the canine would be released inside, according to court papers.

Police were called there around 7:30 a.m. for a report of a woman being threatened by a man with a gun.

Authorities said they tried to call the man by phone, but weren’t successful, prompting officers to use a megaphone to ask the man to leave the house near the First Ward playground. Flash bangs were used twice, police said. Officers went inside at 8:30 a.m. and the woman told them that the suspect was on the second floor with a gun.

Letso eventually surrendered and denied having a gun or making threats, according to court papers.

The woman told police Letso threatened to kill everyone with a gun he had in his backpack after being asked to leave by the property owner. He had been staying there for the last few weeks. Investigators said they did not find a gun.

Letso is charged with misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and unlawful restraint. He was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $1,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 28.