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Autopsy details released in shooting death

By Josh Krysak 4 min read

An autopsy conducted Wednesday afternoon revealed a Uniontown man who was shot to death Tuesday night died from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen causing massive bleeding. Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly said Thursday that the death of Thomas “Tommy” Wilson is being ruled a homicide following the autopsy conducted by Allegheny County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.

Jason Matthew Leichliter, 27, of 14 Oberly Drive, Uniontown, was charged with criminal homicide before Uniontown Magisterial District Judge Mark L. Blair after he allegedly shot Wilson, 29, of 255 Elm Road, Uniontown, at least four times during a dispute Tuesday at 10:50 p.m. in a housing project, according to state police.

Leichliter, who fled the South Union Township scene following the shooting, was found in a Connellsville gas station early Wednesday morning by Connellsville police and taken into custody.

The argument occurred outside Leichliter’s sister’s home at 15 Snyder Terrace in the Bierer Wood Acres public housing project in South Union Township, police said.

Reilly said results of toxicology tests on Wilson have yet to be determined.

And, in a bizarre twist, days before the shooting Wilson had completed payments to Fayette County for his 1994 conviction of third-degree murder.

According to Fayette County Court records, Wilson pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the June 1993 beating death of William Earl Tringes of Uniontown.

Tringes, who was 30-years-old at the time of his death, died three days after Wilson, then 16-years-old, and his 17-year-old cousin, Brian K. Call, of New Salem, punched and kicked Tringes on South Mt. Vernon Avenue after the man allegedly swore at the teens.

Tringes was pronounced dead at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va.,due to blunt force injuries to head and chest.

Then Uniontown Detective Kyle W. Sneddon worked with the Fayette County District Attorney’s office to have the teens charged as adults in the attack.

After trial in April 1994, during which Wilson admitted he had been drinking alcohol the night of the attack and added that he never meant to kill Tringes, Wilson was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in a state prison on May 20, 1994.

He was paroled in June 2003 and recently completed payments to the county for his 1994 trial in Fayette County Court.

According to statements made by several witnesses in the criminal complaint filed by Trooper Charles Morrison following Tuesday’s shooting, Wilson arrived outside 15 Snyder Terrace and began to argue with Leichliter.

Morrison said during the argument, Leichliter went into the apartment and emerged with a handgun.

The argument then resumed and Wilson urged Leichliter to “put the gun down and fight,” according to the affidavit filed by police.

Morrison said Wilson then called Leichliter a derogatory name. After the insult, Leichliter shot Wilson in the chest, causing Wilson to fall to the ground, Morrison said. Leichliter stood over Wilson and shot him at least three more times, Morrison said.

One of the witnesses named in the affidavit told police Leichliter shouted “I kill people, man. I kill people,” as he ran from the scene following the shooting.

Wilson was pronounced dead by Uniontown Hospital emergency room doctors at 11:21 p.m., according to Reilly.

After state police put out an all-points-bulletin on Leichliter, Connellsville police discovered Leichliter in the company of his unidentified brother at a gas station in Connellsville.

Connellsville police took Leichliter into custody at 1:48 a.m. without incident. A subsequent search of Leichliter’s vehicle revealed a 9-mm handgun, police said.

Leichliter a.k.a. “Michael G. Patton” has an extensive criminal record that includes 18 separate charges of theft by unlawful taking in 1997 alone, according to Fayette County Court records.

He is being held in the Fayette County Prison without bail.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 12 before Magisterial District Judge Joseph George Jr.

Funeral arrangements for Wilson are being handled by the Stephen E. Kezmarsky III Funeral Home in Uniontown.

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