Greensburg, PA: Greensburg man kills himself during stand-off with police

By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Greensburg man fatally shot himself while his 2-year-old son slept in another room during a brief stand-off with police early this morning.

Christopher Sphon, 30, shot and killed himself about 12 minutes after police arrived at his home in the 300 block of South Hamilton Avenue to investigate a reported domestic dispute with a gunshot fired, Greensburg police Capt. George Seranko said.

A 911 dispatcher had heard the sound of a single gunshot during an emergency call made at 12:24 a.m., Seranko said.

Sphon's girlfriend, Ryan Moore, 31, was outside of the home when police officers arrived. She told them Sphon had been drinking and was distraught over the possible breakup of their relationship.

She said when Sphon had retrieved a handgun it had gone off. That was apparently the same shot heard by the dispatcher.

Greensburg officers, standing on the front porch of the home, tried to talk to Sphon, but he wouldn't respond, Seranko said.

Police then called the state police Special Emergency Response Team to the scene.

"The way the house is set up and where he was at, it would have been difficult for our officers right then to enter the home safely," Seranko said . Sphon was upstairs and could have fired down on officers as they walked in , he said.

Officers could see the room where the child was sleeping, and Sphon never entered that room, Seranko said.

About 12 minutes into the incident, officers heard a muffled gunshot. After SERT team members arrived around 2:30 a.m., they entered the residence, rescued the sleeping child and found Sphon 's body in an upstairs bedroom, Seranko said.