Vet charged with arson, attempted homicide
DUNBAR – State police have filed attempted homicide charges against a local Iraqi war veteran accused of setting fire to a woman’s home and assaulting a firefighter Tuesday morning. Salvatore “Sam” Ross Jr. of 382 Hardy Hill Road, Dunbar, was charged with criminal attempted homicide, two counts aggravated assault, two counts of arson, terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and resisting arrest before Magisterial District Judge Dwight Shaner following the incident.
State police allege that Ross, in a fit of rage, set fire to the Dunbar home of Monica Cherie Kuhn’ and then attacked a firefighter who responded to squelch the flames.
Police had to conduct Ross’s arraignment in the parking lot of Shaner’s Smock office Tuesday afternoon after troopers were forced to remove Ross’s prosthetic leg at the police barracks.
Officials said they removed the leg because Ross was threatening to stab troopers with the artificial limb.
Without crutches or a wheelchair, Shaner was forced to read the charges to Ross through the rear window of a police cruiser as rain and sleet pelted the car.
Ross told Shaner he did not understand the charges filed against him and mumbled incoherently throughout the arraignment.
Ross, 24, is a former U.S. Army private with the 82nd Airborne, 307th Engineering Battalion. He was injured in May 2003 when a cluster of bombs exploded southwest of Baghdad, Iraq, causing Ross to lose his eyesight and his left leg.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by trooper Russell Freed, the incident began after Ross became enraged at Kuhns after she left Ross’s home Monday night because Ross was allegedly using drugs.
Tuesday morning, Freed said Ross called Kuhns several times threatening to have her utilities shut off. Freed said he called several more times and threatened to burn her house down.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Ross showed up at Kuhns home at 178 Brick Road, Dunbar, and began pounding on the door, Freed said. Kuhns allowed Ross into the residence because she did not want to wake her child who was sleeping.
An argument ensued during which Ross tried to light a blanket on fire, which Kuhns was able to take from him, police said. Ross then warned Kuhns that he would assault her if she came near him and then successfully lit several pieces of clothing on fire.
Kuhns, along with her 3-year-old son and another person in the home, Barbara Jane Hall, 24, of Dunbar, were able to get out of the house without injury, Freed said.
Kuhns then rushed back into the home and tried to stop the burgeoning flames with a garden hose to no avail, police said. She then pulled a dog from the house and ran from the area to a neighbor’s home.
When Dunbar Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Edward Bierer arrived at the home to try and extinguish the blaze, Ross attacked him, police said, causing bleeding and swelling to his face and nose. Ross also tried to choke Bierer during the assault, police said.
Troopers then arrived on the scene and took Ross into custody.
Freed said that after officers took Ross to the barracks, he continued to act out and threatened Freed with his prosthetic leg and had to be restrained by several troopers.
After an investigation of the home, Deputy Fire Marshal Thomas J. Maher concluded the fire was intentionally set.
Ross is no stranger to the law, having been in trouble numerous times after he returned from Iraq.A preliminary hearing has been set for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. before Shaner.
Editor’s note: Herald-Standard reporter Jennifer Harr contributed to this article.