Accused cop killer's girlfriend testifies in his trial

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Prosecutors have rested in the case of a man accused of shooting and killing a police officer.

It will be up to the jury to decide if Ray Shetler knew and understood his girlfriend was on the phone with 911 and the man standing in his yard was a police officer.

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On Wednesday, the jury heard from the only two surviving eyewitnesses.

The first witness the defense called -- Shetler's girlfriend, Kristin Luther -- was the only other person to witness the shootout between Shetler and Officer Lloyd Reed.

She called police that night after she was hit in the nose with a hat; a picture of her injury was entered into evidence Wednesday. She said she heard Shetler banging things downstairs and yelled, "That's it, Ray. I'm calling 911."

Luther told the jury she thought Shetler tried to surrender moments before gunfire erupted outside her Ligonier Street home.

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Luther testified that she knew the man approaching was an officer because dispatch told her it was -- but she claimed she didn't see a badge or any of the patches on his uniform.

While two responding police, officers testified Luther's porch light was on that night, Luther said it wasn't and she can see better in the dark.

She said Officer Reed fired first, and after Shetler was shot in the shoulder, he returned fire.

A Facebook post by Luther this past September also made its way into evidence. She posted, "I luv ray with everything. He asked me to marry him, and I definitely will if this turns out.”

Ray Shetler made eye contact with the jury as he recounted his memories of the night of Nov. 28, 2015.

He told the jury his girlfriend, Kristin Luther, was "acting crazy, like women do sometimes" that night, and he didn't believe at first that she was actually calling 911.

Shetler called it a tense moment when gunfire erupted on Ligonier Street.

He claimed he saw a man standing by a tree and all he could see in the darkness was a man holding a flashlight and pointing a gun.

He said he heard the man saying, "Drop the gun, drop the gun" -- but Shetler didn't put down the rifle slung over his shoulder. On Wednesday, he kept repeating that he didn't know who the man was, but agreed with prosecutors when he said he was aiming to kill that person.

Shetler testified that he was running up and down 8th Street as he was firing. As he was moving, two shots struck the tree in front of which Reed was standing, and the third and final shot traveled straight to Reed's chest.

When prosecutors asked Shetler, why he ran if he was just defending himself, he replied, "I was scared for my life."

The jury is likely to get the case on Thursday.

Cox Media Group