Slain Clarion University student armed and looking for drugs

Gabrielle Banks:

Police said a Clarion University of Pennsylvania student who was shot to death Oct. 19 after he broke into an off-campus residence with a friend was apparently looking for cocaine and was armed with a gun that had been taken from the son of a Pittsburgh school board member.

According to an affidavit filed last week, Mark Anthony Brentley Jr., 22, whose father Mark Brentley Sr. serves on the city school board, told police he believed his friends Kristopher Major Mills, 21, of Stanton Heights, and Jason Tyler Vaughn, 20, of the North Side, had stolen his 9 mm handgun from his apartment the day Mr. Mills was killed.

The weapon was recovered the next day at the rear of the home police said Mr. Mills and Mr. Vaughn had broken into -- at 285B S. Fifth Ave. in Clarion.

Mr. Vaughn told police they wanted to buy drugs, but the residents of the house told them they had none.

One of the residents, university student Zachary C. Snyder, said two men entered the house through a side door, wearing dark clothing and masks. They took his cell phone and led him through the apartment with his hands up.

His roommate, Christopher Rusnock, also a student, told police he heard Mr. Snyder approaching and he sounded scared for his life, so he got his .40-caliber handgun out of the closet.

Mr. Vaughn said Mr. Mills "would not take no for an answer" and pushed his way into Mr. Rusnock's locked bedroom. Mr. Rusnock said the masked intruder cocked his gun and said, "Break yourself, fool." Mr. Rusnock said he fired several shots.

Mr. Vaughn told police Mr. Mills fell in the hallway and dropped the gun.

Mark Brentley Jr. later told officers he noticed Mr. Vaughn was bleeding when he drove him to Pittsburgh the day after the incident. Mr. Vaughn told him he had gotten into a fight.

"We're still mourning the loss of Kristopher Mills," said Mark Brentley Sr. "He was my son's roommate for two years. He was just like one of us."

He said Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Mills attended Perry Traditional Academy with his son. There has been a lot of violence at Clarion aimed at Pittsburgh natives, he said, and "it's a terrible situation."

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