DA: No charges in Pa. bow-and-arrow shooting

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) — A southwestern Pennsylvania prosecutor won’t file charges against a man who fatally shot another with a bow and arrow, in part, because the state’s expanded “castle doctrine” makes it legal to use deadly force on one’s porch or deck, not just inside one’s home.

State police have said a 38-year-old Central City man acted in self-defense when he killed 43-year-old Tony Bittinger, of Salisbury, on Oct. 9. Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler agreed today not to charge the shooter, who is not being named.

The shooter’s wife has told police and the media she was still living with her husband, but hoped to marry Tony Bittinger before the fatal confrontation outside the married couple’s home.

Police say Bittinger was drunk and made threatening calls before climbing the porch stairs armed with a wooden club as he was shot.