A Latrobe woman is facing charges in the death of a Johnstown bar owner after a horrible incident earlier last year. Tami Shafer, 53, has been accused of the homicide of Lance Ross, who owned the Freight Station Bar, with local police asserting that a bloody sledgehammer and contradicting blood evidence at the scene pointed to a violent altercation, as reported by WPXI.
According to authorities, the call to emergency services on February 20, 2023, suggested something amiss within the atrium of Ross's establishment. The caller's account to first responders was that the situation looked suspicious. Still, it was the surveillance footage that depicted Shafer exiting and reentering the bar close to an hour before aid was summoned that contributed to her arrest. After the victim was discovered suffering from grave injuries, he was rapidly transported to a hospital where he succumbed to multiple blunt force injuries to his head and neck, which an autopsy later confirmed, detailed by CBS News.
Initially, Shafer reported to the police that she had found Ross after a fall. Still, she subsequently remarked that "someone beat the hell out of him, obviously, and killed him. Murdered him," as stated in the criminal complaint detailed by CBS News. Her allegations of the fall conflicted with the blood evidence found on a bedsheet and pillowcase, as well as the sledgehammer, as mentioned earlier, strengthening suspicions of her involvement in the crime.
Shafer has been incarcerated at Cambria County Prison as the investigation persists, and authorities urge anyone with information to contact the Johnstown Police Department to aid in the ongoing investigation.
