Game warden who was slain is remembered

Associated Press

WAYNESBORO, Pa.

A game warden killed during a poaching investigation was remembered Sunday as a man with an electric smile and a devout Christian who was dedicated to his job.

The funeral for 31-year- old David L. Grove at Waynesboro Senior High School in central Pennsylvania drew more than 1,000 mourners, including law- enforcement officials nationwide and Gov. Ed Rendell.

Grove, who died Nov. 11, was the first Pennsylvania game warden killed in the line of duty in 95 years.

Grove’s brother Chad Grove remembered their days together as mischief-making children, his brother’s devotion as an uncle and their time together in the outdoors they both loved.

“It’s such unfamiliar territory to me, I’ve never known life without you here,” he said before the flag-draped casket, lined on both sides with flowers sent in tribute. “Today, I feel a little lost at times.”

Friends described Grove as the life of the party, while fellow Pennsylvania Game Commission officers remembered his enthusiasm for the job.

Rendell called Grove’s death “a real tragedy” and told reporters the officers who enforce the state’s game and fish laws are heroes.

“This job is not an easy job, it’s not a fun job, it’s a tough job,” Rendell said. “It’s a very potentially deadly job.”

A preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing Grove, Christopher Lynn Johnson, is scheduled for Wednesday at a district court outside Gettysburg. Johnson, 27, of Fairfield, is charged with criminal homicide, weapons offenses and hunting-law violations in Grove’s death.

Police said Grove was on patrol in a rural area near Eisenhower National Historic Site outside Gettysburg the night of Nov. 11 when he apparently saw someone using a spotlight to illegally hunt. He pulled over the truck that Johnson was driving and called in the license plate, police said, a critical piece of evidence that helped them catch the suspected killer.

Johnson later told police he shot Grove because Johnson was a felon in possession of a firearm and did not want to return to prison, according to Johnson’s arrest affidavit. Authorities said Grove was shot four times, including the fatal shot to his neck.

“The only word everyone keeps saying, that I keep saying, is ‘senseless act,’” said state Sen. Rich Alloway, R-Franklin, who knew Grove. He said there are plans to honor him on the Senate floor early next year.

A passenger in Johnson’s truck, Ryan Laumann, 19, told investigators he drove away with Johnson but after a few minutes insisted Johnson let him out of the truck.

Johnson was arrested the next morning at a hunting cabin, suffering a hip injury that authorities said appeared to be a bullet wound. Police said in the affidavit that Johnson shot off the single handcuff that Grove had attached before he was slain.

The county prosecutor has said it is likely he will seek the death penalty. Johnson’s attorney has asked the public to reserve judgment, saying Johnson deserves a fair trial.

After the funeral Sunday, Waynesboro residents lined Main Street, many waving flags, to pay their last respects as his body was taken for burial in a nearby cemetery.