The Summit Township wife, whose husband is hospitalized and facing charges after an officer-involved shooting, wants to share her side of the story.

Ruthann LaCastro said she is facing a host of emotions, after her calls for help, led to her husband, 71-year-old Anthony LaCastro, being shot as three Pennsylvania State Police officers responding to the emergency returned his fire.

She described her husband as a strong man, a Marine sniper who served in Vietnam. He now has a long road to recovery after taking a shot to the abdomen early Sunday morning when the incident escalated at their Dorn Road home.

Ruthann said she keeps re-living the moments when she and her husband came home from a party after having a few drinks. She is not pleased with the words quoted in police reports that her husband was "highly intoxicated."  She is coming to terms with the paperwork of the police criminal complaint that spells out the charges against him, including five counts of attempted first degree murder, and six counts of recklessly endangering others.

LaCastro said her husband has been embroiled recently in complicated family issues, that he suffers from PTSD and that he had fallen down and passed out a couple of times when they got home that night.  She did not call for police initially.  She called for an ambulance, out of concern for her husband. He didn't want an ambulance to come, and became very upset. Ruthann said, "He didn't want neighbors to see an ambulance in the driveway."

She said her husband always carried a loaded pistol and when she managed to take that weapon away, he loaded a powerful assault rifle. "He was upset so he got the military rifle, because you can see farther with it, it's got a scope and he was ready if anybody came down the driveway," Ruthann said.  "Would he have shot them?  Honestly I don't think so, I really don't, but when he police got there and things escalated I think he panicked."

Mrs. LaCastro doesn't want people to think badly of her husband. It's hard for her to believe that he really would have hurt anyone.  She is not complaining about the State Police response to their situation. "They have been tremendously helpful and very good, I have no complaints about the police.  All of this (the criminal charges) it really saddens me to see that, but I guess facts are facts, but I don’t want people thinking badly of him either, because in all honesty I don’t think he was of sound mind at the time," Ruthann said.

Anthony LaCastro Jr. remains under police guard and in critical condition at UPMC Hamot after undergoing emergency surgery.  He is expected to undergo another surgery.

Two independent investigations by a detective at the State Police barracks in Franklin and the Erie County Detectives office are continuing. When those reports are complete, they will be turned over to Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri.  He will make a final determination on whether lethal force was warranted.