Grand jury declines murder charge in shooting

By Ed Runyan

The victim’s sister said she thought a murder charge was warranted.

WARREN — Christopher P. Moore, the city man accused of killing a neighbor while robbing him of two guns, will not face a murder charge.

On Friday, a Trumbull County grand jury added two additional charges to what he faced before — involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony, and using weapons while intoxicated, a misdemeanor.

Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, declined to comment on whether he had asked the grand jury to indict on a murder charge.

“They were given the evidence and what the law was, and that’s what they chose to indict,” he said.

Barbara Eschman, of Howland, the victim’s sister, said she felt a murder charge was warranted. A murder charge could have carried with it a possible life sentence without parole or the death penalty.

“He shot my brother in the head,” she said. “And to me he [Petrosky] was down when it happened,” she said, describing the apparent location of her brother’s body in relation to the person who shot him.

Moore was indicted earlier on charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence, all with specifications that he used a firearm.

He also was charged with two counts of grand theft and accused of taking two guns from Petrosky’s house. Police recovered both guns.

Eschman said she thinks Moore killed her brother on purpose because her brother never would have allowed Moore to put ammunition in one of his guns, and he never would have allowed Moore to handle one of them.

Petrosky repaired guns and sold them, but he typically didn’t handle them without gloves on, Esch- man said. “He was careful with them,” she said.

Moore, 31, of Roosevelt Street, called police Nov. 10 to say that David Petrosky, 55, of Hall Street, had been shot and might be dead.

Police found Petrosky in his home, shot in the head but still alive. Petrosky was taken to a Cleveland hospital, where he remained alive until Nov. 21, when family members had life support removed because of extreme brain damage.

Moore was a childhood friend of one of Petrosky’s sons and had been at Petrosky’s home several times in recent years.

Moore lived one street over from Petrosky.

Anthony Petrosky, one of David Petrosky’s sons, said his father had sometimes helped Moore by giving him food or small amounts of money.

If he is convicted, Moore could get up to 13 years in prison on the aggravated robbery and burglary charges, up to eight years on the tampering and involuntary-manslaughter charges, and up to five years each on the grand-theft charges.

runyan@vindy.com