Vet to stand trial in arson, assault
CONNELLSVILLE — A disabled Iraq war veteran will stand trial on charges he tried to burn down a Fayette County mobile home and fought with a volunteer firefighter.
But county prosecutors have dropped three attempted homicide charges against 25-year-old Salvatore Ross Jr. in the February incident.
Police say Ross threatened his brother's girlfriend and that another woman and child left the home during the dispute, as Ross tried to light various household items on fire.
Police say Ross also cut the face of an assistant Dunbar Township firefighter.
Ross was blinded and lost a leg while defusing a bomb in Iraq in May 2003. His attorney is pursuing an insanity defense related to Ross's war trauma.
