On the morning of June 20, 2026, 54-year-old Bruce Allan Kasiewicz of White, Pennsylvania, was shot and killed inside a home on Low Street in Mount Pleasant Township. The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office pronounced Kasiewicz dead at the scene shortly after 2:30 p.m.; the official cause of death was ruled a homicide. Kasiewicz was a Connellsville High School graduate who worked as a timberman for the Eutsey Lumber Company.

Authorities say the man charged in the case is Kasiewicz’s 45-year-old nephew, Joshua Aaron Lowry. Investigators report the shooting followed a long-running landlord-tenant dispute: Lowry had been living in the Low Street home owned by his uncle and aunt and allegedly had not paid rent for nearly a year, with an eviction scheduled for July 5. Lowry called 911 and told officers he shot Kasiewicz in self-defense after being awakened and then confronted by Kasiewicz, who Lowry said wore latex gloves and carried a small wooden oar. Police found a 3-foot wooden oar near Kasiewicz’s feet and recovered a bullet from a bedroom wall, but noted inconsistencies in Lowry’s account, no signs of a struggle in the bedroom and no defensive injuries on Lowry. Lowry was arrested, charged with criminal homicide and held without bail; a preliminary hearing on July 1, 2026, resulted in the homicide charge being held for further prosecution.