A Pennsylvania man has been charged with murder after he barged into his estranged wife’s home and shot to death the firefighter who was having dinner with her.
Robert Naugle Jr., 30, has been charged with criminal homicide in the death of 47-year-old James Thomas on New Year’s Eve, WPXI reported.
Court documents say Naugle barged into the home, walked past a crib where his own child was, and fired 10 shots at Thomas. Then he called 911 and told a dispatcher he “walked in on my wife with another man, and I killed him.”
“Within seconds, (Naugle) is unloading a handgun into another human being that he never engaged conversation with, did not know,” Pennsylvania State Trooper Steve Limani said, according to TribLive. “ … He had no idea who this individual was, just saw another person in the house and started shooting.”
A police report said that Naugle filed for divorce in November and moved out of the house on December 29.
“It could have been someone working on the house! The fact that it was just a person sitting there eating food,” Trooper Steve Limani said.
Limani said three other children were upstairs sleeping when Naugle killed Thomas.
Thomas was a member of the Derry Township Volunteer Fire Department in Brandenville, Chief Mark Piantine said, according to WPXI.
“He grew up here,” Piantine said of Thomas’s 12-year-old son. “He is a young kid, and he has come to a call with his dad, and his hope was to follow in his dad’s steps. I guess it’s up to us to take in Landon for his dad.”
Naugle’s estranged wife and their four children were not physically harmed during Thomas’s murder.
Naugle is being held without bond and is due in court on January 14, TribLive said.
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