Person Of Interest In Washington Co. Fatal Shooting Found Dead
AVELLA (KDKA) – The man police were looking for as a person of interest in connection with a woman's fatal shooting near Burgettstown has been found dead this evening inside the victim's Avella home.
Dennis Kern, 61, was named a person of interest after his wife, Carolin, was found shot to death in Washington County Tuesday afternoon.
Dennis was arrested in March for threatening to shoot his wife. Those charges were later dropped. The couple filed for divorce earlier this year and were no longer living together.
On Wednesday morning, movement was spotted inside of the victim's home on Browntown Road in Avella, which prompted a heavy police response around 11 a.m.
"We responded and surrounded house," said Trooper Matthew Jardine, of Pennsylvania State Police. "After the house was responded, we had to bring in our SERT team and some equipment to make entry into residence."
It's unclear why he was inside his wife's home, Kern lived in Claysville.
The standoff lasted seven hours. Kern was eventually found dead in a front bedroom in Carolin's home.
According to the Washington County Coroner's Office, Dennis Kern died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He was the only person of interest in the case, investigators said.
"This shouldn't happen around here, small town, it's quiet it should not happen," said Justin Runyon, a neighbor.
During the afternoon hours of the standoff, police towed away a gray Silverado truck found on a dirt road, which was believed to belong to Kern.
And after keeping the house surrounded for hours, police moved an armored bobcat-style vehicle onto the scene that was used to determine if Kern was on the premises.
Neighbors tell KDKA Kern may have suffered from a terminal illness.
"He don't [want to] come out. He's only got two weeks to live," said James Runyon, a neighbor. "He had cancer and they gave him only two weeks to live. He said there's no reason why living, so."
The coroner's office said Carolin, 68, was found dead in her vehicle on McNeeley Road near Strope Road in Jefferson Township around noon Tuesday.
She had suffered a shotgun wound to the chest.
"I know it was a brief marriage, about two years they been married," said another neighbor who only wanted to be identified as Larry. "When they're out and about in community they were out usually happy-go-lucky."
Investigators say it appears Kern's vehicle was rammed from behind. She was then shot through the driver's side window and the suspect then drove away.
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