Former State Police Firearms Instructor Pleads Guilty In Shooting Death Of Trooper In Montgomery County
By Jim Melwert
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A former State Police firearms instructor has pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering others in connection with the fatal shooting of a Pennsylvania State Trooper during a training session in Montgomery County in September.
Forty-three-year-old former State Police Corporal Richard Schroeter was conducting a training session in Plymouth Township, when according to the grand jury report, he failed to follow procedure to make sure a handgun wasn't loaded. That gun went off, killing 26-year-old trooper David Kedra.
Schroeter entered an open guilty plea to five misdemeanor counts of Recklessly Endangering Another Person, one for each state trooper at the conference table when the gun fired.
Schroeter's attorney Tim Woodward says his client pleaded guilty because he wants to accept responsibility for the shooting.
"There's not a day that goes by where he doesn't think about this," Woodward says. "He's devastated that something like this happened. Certainly it was unintentional. It was accidental."
Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman says Kedra's family was made aware of the plea.
"Nothing is ever going to make this better for them," she says. "I think they understood procedurally what this means and that they will have their opportunity to speak to the court and let the court understand what they've been experiencing and how their loss has affected them and their family."
Schroeter faces a maximum sentence of five to ten years behind bars.
Woodward says Schroeter is a decorated state trooper and there will be no shortage of people who will testify on his behalf at his sentencing.
