Bill Vidonic and Robyn Russo, Times Staff
05/04/2005
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FREEDOM – Tom Simich Sr. watched in horror Monday as his son raised a
20-gauge shotgun inside their Freedom home and in quick succession shot his
brother-in-law once in the back and then his sister in the chest, according
to Rochester police.
The frail, elder Simich, 80, was able to wrest the gun from his son, Thomas
Jr., 46, before he could fire again, and then tucked the gun between the
refrigerator and a cupboard while his son calmly walked into his bedroom,
according to Rochester police officer Sam Piccinini.
When police and medics arrived a short time later, Piccinini said, they
found Tom Simich Sr. and his wife, Dorothy, 83, wandering around the living
room, while the life of their daughter, Marilyn Bergman, 43, ebbed away and
that of their son-in-law, Steven Bergman, 47, had already ended.
“I don’t think reality had set in yet,” Piccinini said Tuesday. Police and
medics scrambled to get the shooting victims and the elder Simiches out of
the home, starting a tense 90-minute period that ended peacefully when Tom
Simich Jr. walked outside and surrendered.
The younger Simich remained in the Beaver County Jail on Tuesday afternoon,
charged with two counts each of criminal homicide and reckless endangerment,
and has confessed to the shootings, Piccinini said.
“He wrote, ‘We had an argument, I got my gun, and I shot them,’ ” Rochester
police officer Jim Siget said.
What police can’t figure out is why, said Piccinini and Sgt. Joseph DeLuca,
acting police chief. The Bergmans had arrived from their Florida home on
Friday to discuss the possibility of the Simiches selling their home at 239½
Fifth Ave. There were no decisions made, DeLuca said, and they don’t think
there was a fierce argument, as Simich Jr. indicated.
As the family discussed several possibilities, including whether the
Simiches would move to Florida with their daughter or buy a smaller home in
Beaver County, Tom Simich Jr., without warning, went into his bedroom around
3 p.m., retrieved the shotgun and began firing, police said.
“Dad was two feet away and watched his daughter and his son-in-law being
killed by his own son,” DeLuca said.
And police said that all indications were that no matter where the Simiches
would have moved, they had always planned to take their son with them,
DeLuca said.
“He loved that spot,” DeLuca said, “and he obviously didn’t want to leave.”
Piccinini said Simich, who is deaf and does not speak, is able to
communicate by writing, and investigators are using interpreters from the
Center for Hearing and Deaf Services in Pittsburgh to help in the
questioning at the Beaver County Jail.
Simich’s parents are also deaf and nearly mute as were his sister and
brother-in-law, police said, and that presented several problems in the
response to the shooting and the aftermath, police said.
When Medic Rescue employees Dominic Banscchini and Michael Guraly responded
to the house for a report of a person having difficulty breathing, they
found the Bergmans shot, and the elder Simiches initially did not
communicate that their son was still in the house.
Once the house was safely evacuated, Piccinini said, Simich Jr. refused to
answer the phone or communicate by computer, but then appeared outside the
house around 4:30 p.m. and was arrested.
DeLuca said that when Simich’s father was asked why his son shot the
Bergmans, a bewildered Simich indicated he didn’t know why.
Piccinini said as far as police could determine, officers reported to one
minor domestic disturbance at the house several years ago, but did not have
additional information on the incident.
Simich Jr. has only one criminal case in Beaver County. In 1994, he pleaded
guilty in a case involving the illegal sale of a prescription drug. The
details of that case, and Simich’s sentence, were not available Tuesday.
Siget said that Simich told police he was a custodian at an area car
dealership and had graduated from a Pittsburgh school for the deaf.
Simich’s cousin Rich, 38, of Monaca said that the whole family was still in
shock Tuesday. Hudock said that while he knew Simich was taking medication
to treat mental illness, he hadn’t shown any signs of aggression in the
past.
“I know they changed his medication recently, but we don’t know if that was
the cause of it.” Hudock said. “I know he had problems and I know he had
issues, but when you are family, you tend to overlook those things.”
Piccinini would not say whether Simich was suffering from any mental
illness. He said Simich did not appear to be intoxicated or under the
influence of drugs when he surrendered Monday, but blood test results were
not available Tuesday afternoon.
Hudock said the family had discussed moving before – possibly to an
assisted-living facility nearby – and while Simich had seemed upset, he
showed no signs that a move could incite him to violence.
“I know he didn’t want to leave his home where he grew up – maybe he thought
they were going to take them far away,” Hudock said. “I don’t know how to
explain it. He just wasn’t in his right mind.”
Liz Bell, the wife of Tom Simich Jr.’s stepbrother, Warren Bell, said
Tuesday that Simich has suffered delusions and other mental problems for
years, but she did not know what medication he had been taking or know a
specific diagnosis.
Liz Bell said that the elder Simiches would rarely be home during the day,
spending time walking each day at the Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township
and running errands. Tom Simich Jr., on the other hand, Bell said, would
sleep all day and stay awake all night.
Bell, of Rochester Township, said Simich, who once lived in California, is a
divorced father of two children in their late teens or early 20s. She did
not say where his children or ex-wife live.
Court officials are preparing for Simich’s preliminary hearing Friday, with
Piccinini saying that two interpreters would be made available, one for
Simich and one for his family.