Fayette County District Attorney Nancy Vernon will not prosecute a
Uniontown man who shot and killed one of three intruders accused of
brandishing guns during a robbery and shootout in an apartment complex.

State police said yesterday that Vernon will not prosecute James Simon
Thompson, 46, because he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed
Charles Lendell, 28.

But police have charged David Alexander Sims, 33, and Antonio Lanko, 16,
with homicide in Lendell’s death because it occurred during a robbery.
Lanko was charged as an adult. Both are charged with robbery and
conspiracy to commit robbery.

Sims and Lanko, who were jailed without bail, face a preliminary hearing
Jan. 10 before District Justice Deberah Kula in North Union.

Between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Saturday, state police said, Lendell, Sims and
Lanko burst into an apartment at the Lemon Wood Acres complex in
Uniontown, where Thompson was visiting several friends, and pointed
their guns at the group. The three took money and other items from
people in the apartment.

Thompson got a gun and fired at the intruders.
A shootout ensued and the three men, two of whom wore knit ski masks
that covered their faces, fled through the apartment’s back door.
Lanko suffered a gunshot wound to his leg outside the apartment. Sims
was wounded in the upper left thigh. Police did not know if Thompson was
the shooter.

FAIR USE