A Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Department sergeant testified Friday that a fugitive repeatedly tried to grab his gun as the pair struggled on the floor of a St. Clair Township mobile home where the man was found hiding last month.

Sgt. Irvin Shipley testified that a search team of four sheriff’s deputies and 11 state troopers discovered Raymond A. Shetler, 37, of New Florence hiding inside a mobile home the night of Dec. 7 after the team had searched “four or five” other residences in the area.

After hearing Shipley’s testimony about the struggle to apprehend Shetler, Ligonier District Judge Denise Thiel ruled there was sufficient evidence for Shetler to stand trial on two felony counts of aggravated assault and single counts of disarming a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

Thiel set bond at $250,000 and remanded Shetler to the county prison, where he has been held since his arrest.

Shetler’s attorney, Michael Garofalo of the public defender’s office, entered a not-guilty plea on Shetler’s behalf.

Following a six-day trial in 2018, jurors found Shetler not guilty of first- and third-degree murder for the Nov. 28, 2015, shooting death of officer Lloyd Reed, 54, of Hollsopple, Somerset County, as he responded to a domestic violence call.

In December, prosecutors contended Shetler violated terms of his probation sentence for theft and receiving stolen property convictions related to the homicide case and issued a warrant.

Shipley testified that police had received a tip that Shetler may have been hiding out in a rural mobile home with his girlfriend, Keeley Shay Morgan, 29, of New Florence.

Owner Kenneth Krouse denied Shipley was inside but allowed police to search. Shipley said he and three troopers went inside while the other members of the team surrounded the home.

Police and the sheriff’s deputies reported they found Shetler hiding under a futon and blankets in the home along Shrum Hill Road near Seward.

Shipley said he was looking in a bathroom “when I heard some screams coming from another room and something like slamming against the wall next to where I was.”

Shipley said he rushed down the hallway to a nearby room and saw Shetler on his knees with a trooper pinned against the wall. The trooper was asking for help.

“Shetler had him pushed against the wall and was grabbing at him,” Shipley said.

Shipley testified under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramataro that he jumped over a couch in the room and attempted to pull Shetler away from the trooper, but Shetler kicked Shipley’s feet out from under him and began struggling with him.

When troopers attempted to use a Taser to subdue Shetler, Shipley said he was able to momentarily separate and stand up, but Shetler also stood. Shipley said he knew he had to get Shetler to the ground again to handcuff him and the pair continued to struggle. Shipley slipped, fell backward and struck his head.

“I was thinking, ‘I can’t black out.’ I could hear (Shetler) saying get the (expletive) off me,” Shipley said. “I could also feel (Shetler) grabbing for my holster … trying to get my firearm. He head butted me and was striking me in my face.”

Officers were able to take Shetler into custody and put him in handcuffs.

Shipley, an 11-year veteran with the department, said he has not been able to return to work after being treated at Excela Health Westmoreland hospital in Greensburg for a torn bicep, torn rotator cuff, concussion, dislocated left hand and multiple bruises suffered during the struggle. He said he is undergoing physical therapy treatments.

Shetler also was injured. He was treated at AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville before being operated on for a fractured eye socket at another Pittsburgh hospital. He also said his eye was left eye was damaged by the Taser.

Krouse, 56, and Morgan have hearings scheduled Feb. 4 on charges of hindering the apprehension of a fugitive.

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