The ex-mayor of Derry Borough was acquitted Wednesday of all charges related to a 2019 incident in which he allegedly pulled a gun on four children at a local park after a fistfight broke out.
During that incident, police said Kevin Gross pointed a loaded gun on a group of children after a fight involving his son broke out in a Westmoreland County park on April 14, 2019. He was arrested the next day and soon resigned as mayor of the borough.
In Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, a jury found Mr. Gross, 40, not guilty of simple assault, reckless endangerment, and harassment. He had previously been acquitted of aggravated assault charges, said a woman at the county clerk’s office when reached by phone on Thursday.
Mr. Gross’ attorney, Timothy Andrews, said in a phone interview on Thursday his client and his family were “ecstatic” over the verdict.
“It indicates, obviously to us, what we believed from the beginning: that he reacted to what he thought was a dangerous moment in the spur of the moment in the best way he knew how,” Mr. Andrews said.
Mr. Andrews disputed allegations that Mr. Gross pointed a gun directly at children.
One of the children involved in the incident, a 15-year-old boy, testified that Mr. Gross pointed a revolver directly at him after he started fighting with two other teenagers — one of whom police identified as Mr. Gross’ son.
Mr. Andrews said Mr. Gross believed the boy who was fighting had a weapon. The attorney said Mr. Gross repeatedly and unsuccessfully ordered the boy to remove himself off a younger boy, adding Mr. Gross, who was roughly 10 feet away, drew his gun 45 degrees to the ground but “never pointed it” at the boy.
Once the fight ended, Mr. Gross became aware that the boy did not have a weapon, Mr. Andrews said.
“At that point, he immediately reholstered his weapon,” he said.
Police said Mr. Gross also pointed his gun at three girls — one 12-year-old and two 14-year-olds — who were bystanders. He ordered them to put their belongings on a bench and did not allow them to call their parents. The three girls testified in court they had been afraid.
Mr. Andrews said in previous comments that his client “asked the other young girls who were there to stay there as witnesses” to ensure “this came out the right way.”
According to the terms of Mr. Gross’s bail — in addition to putting up $20,000 — he had to turn over to the county sheriff firearms in his possession, which tallied upward of 50. Most of the weapons were collector’s items that Mr. Gross had never used, his lawyer said at the time.
Ema R. Schumer: eschumer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @emaschumer.
First Published: June 24, 2021, 8:06 p.m.
