WHEELING - No criminal charges will be filed against the Wheeling pharmacist who shot and killed would-be robber Kevin Lee Walnoha last week at The Elm Grove Pharmacy.
"Based upon what I know now, I don't anticipate any charges being filed against the pharmacist," Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith said. "It appears to me that he was justified in using deadly force against the robber. It was apparent that the robber posed a threat to both the pharmacist and to the employees."
A police report shows that on May 25, Walnoha, of Wellsburg - a 37-year-old father of four children - jumped over the pharmacy counter, brandished a handgun and demanded pills from a pharmacy worker. He pointed the gun toward a second employee who appeared from a back office. The first employee then shot the intruder, who died at the scene.
Wheeling Police Department officers and West Virginia State Police troopers converged on the pharmacy immediately after the shooting. The WVSP assumed jurisdiction in the case.
Smith said a Wheeling Police Department investigation continues in an effort to determine if Walnoha is the same man who robbed the Rite-Aid Pharmacy at gunpoint on May 21 in Warwood and made off with about 3,400 prescription pills.
"They are following up on every lead and going over all the evidence in the Rite-Aid robbery to determine if Walnoha is linked to that case," Smith said. "We will make a joint determination before we make a call."
On May 27, West Virginia State Police arrested Melody Fisher, 40, of Beech Bottom on charges of accessory before the fact to armed robbery in connection to the Elm Grove case. The next day, they served her with a warrant on a charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Fisher remained lodged in the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville late last week in lieu of $1 million bond while awaiting a preliminary hearing on Monday before Ohio County Magistrate Joe Roxby.
