State police find Apollo man dead after incident at Somerset hunting cabin – By Stephen Huba (triblive.com) / April 22 2018
An Apollo man died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound over the weekend after first firing on a friend at a Somerset County hunting cabin. The friend was not injured, state police said.
Police found Donald Smodic, 57, in Salem Township, around 8 a.m. Saturday, dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. He was discovered at the turnpike maintenance entrance of Toll Route 66, mile marker 12, police said.
.Troopers originally responded to a hunting cabin in Larimer Township, Somerset County, at 2:30 a.m. Saturday for a report of shots fired. The subsequent investigation showed that Smodic had been drinking and that he and his friend got into an altercation, police reported.
Smodic left the cabin and put two semiautomatic long guns and ammunition in his vehicle. He then removed the firearms and fired an estimated 121 rounds at the cabin before fleeing, police said.
Police found Smodic several hours later after an “extensive” search. The incident remains under investigation.
