Photo courtesy of WTAE.
Peter Spencer went on a hunting trip with a white co-worker and three other white men on Dec. 11 in Rockland Township, Pa. He was shot to death on Dec. 12.
The 29-year-old immigrant from Jamaica was shot nine times, including six times in the chest, according to Tim Stevens, the CEO of the Allegheny County Democratic Black Caucus. He was also shot in the head.
“We are talking six bullets into the chest, two into the buttocks, and one we have a different opinion – either through the mouth or from the neck out of the mouth,” said Stevens.
When the Pennsylvania State Police arrived on the scene around 2:30 a.m., they discovered Spencer laying on the front lawn with several apparent gunshot wounds. He was deceased. A 25-year-old man was taken into custody and has claimed self-defense.
Police haven’t released the full police report, nor have they released the killer’s name or filed any charges against him. They claim to still be investigating and requested the public’s patience as they gather the autopsy results, ballistic reports, lab results and toxicology reports.
According to Spencer’s pregnant fiancé, he was excited to go camping and hunting with his co-worker, whom he had visited in the past.
She told the authorities that Spencer usually went inside the co-worker’s home when she’d dropped him off in the past. However, she said that on Dec. 11, the co-worker took Spencer directly into the woods. He later sent her a text noting that he would be sleeping in the cabin that evening. Hours later, Spencer was dead.
His sister, Tehilah Spencer, called her brother’s murder a modern-day lynching on a GoFundMe page set up for Spencer’s family.
“He had 9 GUN SHOT WOUNDS!!!!! some to his head, and the rest of his body,” she wrote. “Here’s what I do know, this is a HATE CRIME! Peter was MURDERED in Rockland Township, Pennsylvania in a backwater rural town where he was completely vulnerable and cut off from everything and everyone. He was slaughtered and killed in what i consider an act of MODERN DAY LYNCHING! I need all OF YOUR SUPPORT TO GET THIS NATIONAL ! TAG AND SHARE TO YOUR PAGES AND ALL MAJOR NEWS OUTLETS! THEY ARE TRYING TO SWEEP THIS UNDER THE RUG! WE WILL NOT LET THEM! JUSTICE FOR PETER!”
The Black Political Empowerment Project wants the man charged and said his claim of self-defense is without merit.
“Which we think is a defenseless defense, an unexplainable defense,” Stevens said. “We can’t help but wonder if there was some racial animosity and if this possibly could be a hate crime.”
The Venango County District Attorney’s Office had no comment as of Dec. 30.