Man asserts self-defense in parking lot slaying

ALTOONA, Pa. – A man charged in a shooting death in a Pennsylvania parking lot that police allege stemmed from a drug deal gone bad says he acted in self-defense.

The (Altoona) Mirror reports that 33-year-old John Patrick Stiver II repeatedly asserted self-defense during a break in Friday’s criminal homicide arraignment.

Police allege that Stiver and another man took money from David Hoover Jr. for cocaine but didn’t deliver. They said Hoover was carrying a baseball bat when he approached Stiver as he sat in his car in the Altoona lot, the defendant fired through a window.

Stiver called the shooting self-defense and said possessing a loaded gun was a constitutional right. He called the evidence “circumstantial.”

The Blair County district judge told him he could face life or even execution if convicted.