GREENSBURG, Pa. — Blood droplets around the body of a 14-year-old boy who was shot to death with a lawmaker's gun show the boy could have shot himself, an investigator said at a coroner's inquest Thursday.
No charges have been filed in the shooting death of Louis Farrell, who lived next door to state Sen. Robert Regola and was friends with the Republican lawmaker's 16-year-old son, Bobby.
The county coroner is using the inquest as a basis to recommend whether criminal charges should be filed, but the final decision will be up to prosecutors.
The teenager was found dead July 22 from a single gunshot wound to the head, but authorities have yet to determine if he committed suicide, shot himself accidentally or was shot by someone else.
Sarah Kinneer, a state police crime lab expert, testified at the start of a two-day inquest Thursday that she examined microscopic blood droplets found near the barrel of the gun and under one fingernail clipped from one of the boy's fingers.
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"In order for it to be deposited under these fingernails, it's got to be really close," she said.
Farrell's body was found in a nearby wooded area with the senator's 9 mm handgun, a flashlight and a cigar.
State police crime lab expert Susan Atwood testified that tests on Farrell's and Bobby Regola's hands to see if they fired a gun were negative. That did not rule out that either teen fired a gun because gunshot residue can easily be wiped off, she said.
Sen. Regola was in Harrisburg, the state capital, at the time of the shooting. Farrell had a key to the home because he watched the family's dogs when the senator and his wife were out of town, authorities have said.
Attorneys for the senator and his son questioned the need for an inquest, saying physical evidence introduced by state police shows no crime was committed and the boy likely shot himself.
"I'm sort of curious about why we're even here," Charles Porter, an attorney for Sen. Regola.
The Farrell family said through their attorney, Jon Perry, that they don't believe Louis Farrell shot himself and that they think he wasn't alone when he died. Perry said he believes the body was moved and that someone had cleansed the crime scene.
Regola and his son were interviewed by police shortly after the death, but the district attorney and state police say the Regolas' attorneys have refused to let police interview them again.
Sen. Regola was expected to take the stand Friday, but Bobby Regola's attorney, Duke George, said his client will "absolutely not" testify.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck, who is questioning the witnesses, said Bobby Regola must invoke the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if he decides not to testify.
In a search warrant for the Regola home in August, state police said Bobby Regola seemed to know that his teenage friend was dead before anyone told him and was "somewhat deceptive" when investigators asked him about how the lawmaker's gun wound up next to the boy's body.
