One dead in Westland shooting
Emergency personnel respond to reports of a shooting at 153 Meadow St., Westland.
Joshua Jamar Moss
WESTLAND – A 22-year-old Westland man is dead and a man identified to police as his cousin is in custody after a shooting Sunday night in Westland, Mt. Pleasant Township.
Joshua Jamar Moss, 28, was arraigned before District Judge Larry Hopkins early Monday on charges filed by state police in the death of Robert Edward Kramer Jr., 22, of 153 Meadow St., Westland. Kramer was pronounced dead at the scene of a gunshot wound to his chest at 7:51 p.m. Sunday by Washington County Coroner Tim Warco.
The shooting happened in the street outside Kramer’s home. Warco said the two had been at a picnic at the rear of Kramer’s residence and got into an argument before the shooting which occurred just before 8 p.m.
According to state police Trooper Douglas Rush, the alleged gunman and Kramer were fighting all day. The suspect was taken into custody by state police about 9:30 p.m. and was placed in the back of a state police cruiser to be taken to the state police barracks for questioning.
As he was being led to the cruiser, the suspect, who is reportedly in his 20s, told a bystander where to find his wallet, cellphone and keys to his vehicle. A member of law enforcement told him he did not need to be worried about those items.
Moss is being held in the Washington County Jail without bond.
Two men and a woman were injured and transported to Canonsburg Hospital by Fort Cherry Ambulance for treatment of what was described by investigators as stress-related issues.
Neighbors were sitting on their porches of their duplexes, watching emergency responders. Traffic on Route 519 slowed as they went past the area just off that road that was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape.
Township police Chief Lou McQuillan said state police will handle the investigation. A forensic services unit was expected from Uniontown.
Also at the scene were Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone, assistant District Attorney Chad Schneiders and chief county Detective James McElhaney, Chartiers Township police, Washington County sheriff’s deputies and Mt. Pleasant Township firefighters.