By Marcia Moore
SELINSGROVE — An argument over William A. Ludwig’s excessive drinking led him to shoot at his elderly mother and then suggest a murder-suicide pact with her Sunday evening, Selinsgrove police said.
Sporting a thin cut across her forehead and a small gash in her right arm from the shooting, Mary Ludwig, 81, of 204 S. Front St. on the Isle of Que, declined Monday to comment publicly about the incident that occurred in the home she and her 61-year-old son have shared for 10 years.
According to a criminal complaint filed by patrolman Brian Eichenlaub, Ludwig’s nephew, Anthony Bender and Bender’s infant son, Michael, were inside the home at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday when Ludwig threatened his mother as they argued about him drinking alcohol in excess since the day before.
Armed with a .357 magnum revolver, Ludwig entered the living room as his mother sat on a chair and Bender and his son were on a couch.
Mrs. Ludwig reached for a telephone to call police and was shot at by her son, court documents said.
The bullet grazed Mrs. Ludwig’s arm, struck an oak cabinet and sent fragments into her forehead.
After firing the gun, police said, Ludwig tossed his mother an unloaded revolver and some ammunition.
That’s when he allegedly suggested a murder-suicide pact, telling his mother to load the gun and shoot him and he’d shoot her with the .357 magnum he still held.
Mrs. Ludwig refused, court records said.
At this point, Alison Drumheler ran into the house to retrieve her infant son and Bender, leaving an armed Ludwig and his mother inside alone.
When officers from Selinsgrove, Sunbury and state police at Selinsgrove showed up and surrounded the house, Ludwig placed four rifles at the doorways and ammunition nearby and told his mother he would shoot at police and then kill himself.
With Mrs. Ludwig’s help, police were able to convince the “highly intoxicated” Ludwig to surrender within 15 minutes without further gunfire.
He’s being held at Snyder County Prison in lieu of $150,000 cash bail pending a preliminary hearing Thursday before District Judge John T. Robinson on charges of attempted criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, four counts of recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats.
