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By JOE HEALEY jhealey@leader.net
Thursday, January 27, 2000 Page: 1A
KINGSTON TWP. – A township man was shot several times at his home
Wednesday afternoon during an argument with his wife, who is charged with the
crime.
Peter Perno, 46, of 29 Circle Drive, Carverton Heights, was taken by
medical helicopter to Community Medical Center in Scranton, where he underwent
emergency surgery. He was listed in critical condition on Wednesday night,
police said.
His wife, Mary Perno, 42, of the same address was arraigned Wednesday night
on two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of simple assault and
recklessly endangering another person.
“It was a verbal argument about their marital status,” said Luzerne
County District Attorney Dave Lupas. He would not elaborate.
According to arrest papers:
When police arrived at the home at about 5 p.m., they were let inside by
the victim’s sister, Yolanda Humphrey. The couple lives with Humphrey.
Police saw Mary Perno in a downstairs bedroom with blood on her hands,
sweater and pants.
Humphrey told police she was upstairs and heard loud noises that sounded
like gunshots. She went downstairs and saw her brother on the floor and Mary
with a gun in her hand.
She took the gun from Mary and put it in a desk drawer in another part of
the home. Mary gave the weapon to Humphrey willingly.
After Peter Perno was taken to the hospital, police found a blood-stained
pillow that the man had clutched to his chest. Also, there was blood on the
bedding and carpeting in the room, and a bullet hole in a wall and on a night
stand.
After Mary Perno was arrested, she told police she and her husband argued
about their marriage. Mary Perno went to her purse, pulled out a .357 Magnum
pistol and shot her husband. Police did not say how many times Peter Perno was
shot or who owns the weapon.
Shortly after the medical helicopter took Peter Perno to the hospital, his
neighbors gathered on the street to discuss the shooting.
One neighbor, John Simonitis, said it was a quiet neighborhood, except for
his next door neighbors, with whom he has had disputes. The residents of the
home, including Humphrey, often argued with each other.
“It was a very volatile situation over there,” he said. “Except for the
owner, you never knew who was staying there.”
Mary Perno was arraigned before District Justice James Tupper of Kingston
Township. She was taken to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack
of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 3.
Lupas said Mary Perno can face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the
charges. He said she was not charged with attempted murder because
investigators didn’t believe those charges were warranted based on their
interview with her.
During her arraignment, Perno said she worked full-time at Choices, which
is a drug rehabilitation center in Kingston. She said she has resided in the
Kingston Township home since “last May.”
Members of the Kingston Township Police Department, the Luzerne County
District Attorney’s Office and state police investigated the shooting.