Trooper Landon Weaver, 23, responded alone to a domestic call Friday night before he was shot and killed by a man who had reportedly violated a protection from abuse order, Pennsylvania State Police officials said Saturday.
"He was alone" when he went to the home of Sherry Robison in Juniata Township, said Capt. David Cain, the commanding officer of Weaver's Troop G. Inside that house was Robison's son, 32-year-old Jason Michael Robison. Somehow, Cain said, the man obtained a firearm while he was being interviewed by the trooper.
"Troop G members responded to the scene and realized Trooper Weaver needed immediate medical attention," Cain said. "They tactically removed Trooper Weaver from the residence," he added.
Weaver, a newlywed and dean's list criminology major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, died of his gunshot wounds. Sixteen hours later -- after a central Pennsylvania manhunt that involved nearly 100 troopers, FBI, and other law enforcement personnel -- the alleged killer was found holed up in a house trailer near his mother's home.
About 10 a.m., Cain said the armed Hesston man was shot and killed by troopers who were "faced with a deadly situation" when Robison "failed to obey commands and made an overt threat toward the troopers."
Cain said at an afternoon news conference that he did not know or could not say why Weaver responded to the Robison address by himself. He said that was being investigated. He would not say who had obtained the PFA against Robison or who else was in the home when the trooper was shot.
"Troopers encountered Robison at an unoccupied mobile home not far from his residence," State Police said in a statement Saturday afternoon on Facebook. "Robison refused commands to surrender, made threats to harm additional law enforcement personnel, and was shot and killed in the ensuing confrontation."
The State Police had announced on Twitter at 10:37 a.m. Saturday that Robison was dead.
Robison is deceased; more information to follow. https://t.co/vAxJUyJvdP
— PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) December 31, 2016
Robison had been sought by police in a manhunt in the fatal 6:30 p.m. Friday shooting of Weaver, who was investigating a reported violation of a protection-from-abuse order at a home on Bakers Hollow Road in rural Juniata Township. That home is listed as the current residence of Robison's mother, Sherry, according to PennLive.
Weaver had joined the state police just a year ago, in December 2015, and was assigned to the Troop G patrol unit in Huntingdon. He was the 97th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to be killed in the line of duty since the department’s inception in 1905, the agency reported on its Facebook page.
Weaver graduated from the state police academy in June. He was a 2012 graduate of Central High School in Martinsburg, Blair County, and had married his high-school sweetheart, Macy Gottshall.
The two were pictured arm-in-arm at their graduation in the August 2012 edition of the school district newsletter, The ABC’s of the Spring Grove School District.
Weaver went on to study at IUP, where he majored in criminology.
The remote area around where the shooting occurred was closed off while police officers on foot, in cars and in a helicopter searched for the trooper's killer.
According to online Huntingdon County court records, Robison had been arrested Dec. 6 and made bail that day in connection with an Oct. 27 case in which he was charged with theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving without a license.
He also faced another open case stemming from an April 4 arrest in which he was charged with unlawful restraint, simple assault, and harassment.
In June 2014, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled substance for an incident the previous year and was sentenced to 72 hours to six months behind bars.
In 2012, he pleaded guilty to simple assault in an incident the prior year and was sentenced to four to 12 months in jail. He had also previously pleaded guilty to charges of public drunkenness and retail theft in other separate cases.
On his Facebook page, Robison had vented his feelings toward police officers, but those comments appear to no longer be online.
In a Dec. 17 post, he wrote: "F--- police. The only good cop is a dead cop." Recovered screenshots of the post appeared on social media Saturday afternoon. That comment appears to have been removed.
One woman posted on Robison's Facebook page on Saturday: "No excuse for what Robison did. This page of his was FILLED with cop hating BS Where is it now??"
In a statement, Gov. Wolf issued condolences to Weaver's family and said the young trooper "will always be remembered for his bravery, his sacrifice, and his willingness to serve."
Pennsylvania State Troopers Association President Joseph R. Kovel said of Weaver in a Saturday statement: “Our deepest condolences and support go to the family of Trooper Landon Weaver. Trooper Weaver is a brave hero who will forever be remembered for his ultimate sacrifice. We grieve the senseless loss of his life and pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters who continue to protect the commonwealth.”
The manhunt that occurred Friday night into Saturday morning for Robison brought back memories of the 2014 search for suspect Eric Frein in the fatal shooting of another state trooper.
Frein is charged with killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and wounding another trooper outside the Blooming Grove barracks in September 2014. He led police on a 48-day manhunt before U.S. marshals caught him about 30 miles from the shooting scene.
Jury selection is slated in March in Chester County for a panel to be bused to Pike County for Frein's trial, according to the Associated Press.
