A New Florence man who was acquitted of killing a St. Clair Township police officer is back in police custody for violating his parole conditions.
Reports say that 37-year-old Ray Shetler, Jr. is once again in police custody as he was found just before midnight Tuesday night in a mobile home near Seward. Shetler was wanted on a warrant connected with a missed hearing on Friday. Prior to the hearing, a Westmoreland probation officer said that he talked with Shetler over the phone, and Shetler told him he would not be in attendance for the hearing, and he would not tell him where he would be. This prompted Westmoreland County Judge Meghan Billik-Defazio to issue a warrant for his arrest.
State Police and Sheriff’s Deputies went to the Seward area after they got a tip on his whereabouts. After surrounding the mobile home, police tried to take Shetler into custody, but he resisted arrest and fought with arresting officers, injuring one and getting injured in the process. The officer is expected to recover from his injuries, and Shetler is at UPMC Mercy Hospital today for surgery regarding his injuries. Police believed he was on Methamphetamine at the time.
Shetler was initially charged with first- and third-degree murder for the shooting death of officer Lloyd Reed in November of 2015 as he responded to a domestic violence call. A jury found him not guilty on both of those counts, but he was found guilty of theft and receiving stolen property for stealing a truck and using it to flee the scene, ditching clothes and a rifle in a ditch on a power plant’s property and crossing the Conemaugh River. He was found after a six-hour manhunt.
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