Westmoreland County attorney Robert C. Klingensmith dies days after bloody standoff with police

Local attorney Robert Klingensmith dies of self-inflicted injury days after police standoff

Robert C. Klingensmith, the Westmoreland County attorney who shot himself during a bloody standoff with police over the weekend, has died. 

Police said Klingensmith shot and wounded himself in his Murrysville office before they tased him for ignoring repeated demands to stop moving while they served a search warrant. It was all caught on camera.  

According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office, Klingensmith, 61, died on Wednesday afternoon from the self-inflicted injury.

Klingensmith had been charged with theft and exploiting an older or care-dependent person. 

The Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office said Klingensmith was the representative for a woman who died, and that Klingensmith failed to pay money from this woman's estate to her heirs.

Instead, officials say he transferred more than $300,000 from the woman's account to his personal account.

During the course of the investigation, detectives learned Klingensmith closed Anne Marie Wiley's accounts and withdrew the $91,000. They say he also sold her share of an apartment building, which netted $131,500. 

County detectives said several other people have come forward with similar allegations against Klingensmith, but after his death, the criminal prosecution against him has ended and the case is closed. 

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