Published: September 17, 2008 10:03 pm      

Man shot dead before ’suspicious’ fire, police say

LIGONIER — One person is dead following an early morning apartment fire in Ligonier and police say it appears the man was shot before the suspicious fire broke out.

The Westmoreland County Coroner is not releasing details, but says the man was killed in Ligonier, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh.

But police Chief John Berger says authorities are waiting for a search warrant and that the victim, 75-year-old William McMichael Jones, appeared to have been shot in the head.

Berger says police believe the fire started in the bedroom of Jones’ apartment, one of three in a home that had been subdivided into three units.