Ligonier Township man wielded machete before being fatally shot by police, detectives say

Ligonier Valley Police were responding to a domestic disturbance Sunday afternoon when they fatally shot a machete-wielding man at a Ligonier Township home, according to Westmoreland County detectives.

Robbie Thomas Saunders, 59, was armed with a machete when officers arrived just before 4 p.m. at a Gravel Hill Road home. Detectives said Saunders aggressively approached the officers and was shot once by police. Saunders was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Hospital, where he died.

No officers were hurt.

Saunders’ son, Jonathan Faidley of Centerville, Crawford County, said his father was “severely disabled, to the point where he had to be on dialysis. And his ammonia levels spiked to the point where it caused a psychotic break. He was arrested once before when it happened.”

“He’s had a long, long history of substance abuse and problems,” Faidley said. “He was a felon, and so he couldn’t get a job. He was thinking of moving down south to try to get a job there, and then this happened.”

Faidley, a former U.S. Army airborne infantry combat veteran, said he spoke with Ligonier Valley Police after the incident and was critical of their response.

“I know how to de-escalate a situation,” Faidley said. “This is a failure of the system and a failure of police training.”

Gravel Hill Road, near Route 711, was closed for a time. Ligonier Valley Police is a regional police force formed about four years ago after a merger of the Ligonier Township and Ligonier Borough police forces.

District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli indicated she will review the circumstances after the investigation is complete to determine if deadly force was justified.