Click here to subscribe today or Login.
BEAR CREEK TWP. — A Bear Creek Township man is facing charges of illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and discharging a shotgun inside an occupied house last month.
State police at Wilkes-Barre charged Louis Richard Izzo, 66, of discharging a 20 gauge shotgun inside his home on Pittston Boulevard on March 7, according to charges filed with District Judge Michael Dotzel in Wilkes-Barre Township.
State police said Izzo’s home nurse and wife were inside the house when he allegedly fired the shotgun.
After Izzo surrendered the shotgun, he was evaluated at a local hospital.
Court records say prior to the shotgun discharge, Izzo recently had his left leg amputated and was arguing with his wife.
When troopers responded to the home, Izzo was on the front porch with the shotgun and threatened to harm himself. A trooper deescalated the situation by having Izzo to drop the shotgun, court records say.
State police said Izzo was convicted of third-degree murder in Luzerne County Court in 1989 and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison. Due to the 1989 conviction, Izzo was prohibited as a felon from owning, carrying and possessing a firearm.
Archives of The Times Leader report Izzo, then 32, fatally shot Andrew Usckaivzy, 28, on Spring Street, Avoca, on Feb. 12, 1989. Izzo was convicted of third-degree murder in a non-jury trial in December 1989.
Izzo is facing charges of discharge of a firearm inside an occupied residence, illegal possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment. He has not been arraigned on the charges.