Family dispute leads to fatal Stowe shooting

A McKees Rocks man shot and killed his brother and his brother’s girlfriend Sunday in Stowe and left their bodies in a house for days following an argument between the siblings, police saidin a criminal complaint.

Timothy Gumm, 60, was arrested Thursday night after police said he shot Christopher Gumm, 55, and Sally Sines, 47, four days prior at a residence in the 900 block of Liberty Street in Stowe. Police were asked to check the home on Thursday and found the couple’s decomposing bodies inside just before 11:30 a.m., the complaint said. The home belonged to the Gumm siblings’ parents, the criminal complaint said.

Christopher suffered a gunshot to the head and Ms. Sines was shot in the neck, police said.

Gumm is charged with two counts of criminal homicide, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of person not to possess a firearm.

He is currently being held at the Allegheny County Jail.

Witnesses told police that before the shooting on Sunday, Gumm had complained that he disapproved of his brother and Ms. Sines living at their parents’ home. Gumm had been with the unidentified witness on Sunday, before eventually heading over to his parents’ homein Stowe.

On Sunday night, Gumm, holding an Aldi’s bag with two cans of beer inside, checked the mailbox and was let inside the home by his brother, police said. The two siblings drank beer together before Gumm went upstairs and noticed that someone had broken into his father’s locked room, the criminal complaint said. Gumm told police that this angered him, so he came downstairs yelling. His brother Christopher told him he was “sick of him” as the two got into an argument, Gumm told police.

Gumm said his brother came “at him” with what he thought was a knife, the complaint said, but ultimately he wasn’t sure if his brother had a weapon.

Gumm said he quickly pulled out a black .38 caliber revolver that he had in his jacket pocket, pointed it at his brother and fired at him. The criminal complaint said Ms. Sines then “jumped” up from the floor and Gumm shot at her twice.

Gumm told police he left the home after shooting her. He said walked back to his apartment and tossed his weapon along the way. He told police where he threw the weapon, which helped authorities find it in the 800 block of Broadway Avenue.

Gumm is not permitted to carry a firearm after pleading guilty in November 1997 to aggravated assault, court records show. He received a sentence of five years probation at the time.