PITTSBURGH — State police said a man prepared a sniper's perch in an upstairs bedroom at his Pennsylvania home before fatally shooting a trooper who arrived to investigate a domestic call.

Michael J. Smith arranged folded towels and blankets on a corner table to steady a hunting rifle police believe he used to gun down Trooper Paul Richey late Wednesday morning.

Police believe Smith used the same weapon to kill his wife, Nancy Frey-Smith, and himself. Their bodies were found in the home Wednesday evening.

Police also believe the rifle is the same one Smith used to threaten his wife at her job 13 years ago. Police said they are trying to determine how the weapon was returned to Smith because it had been seized under a restraining order issued in 1997.