Cambria Township man enters guilty plea for killing grandson

Katie Smolen, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Jan. 27—EBENSBURG, Pa. — A Cambria Township man accused of killing his grandson entered a guilty plea on Wednesday in Cambria County court.

John Thomas Oblinsky, 68, entered a guilty plea to felony voluntary manslaughter before President Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III in the April homicide of his grandson, Jacob T. Fisher, 21.

In a coroner's report regarding Fisher's death, then Deputy Coroner Charles Mahon wrote that Teresa Oblinsky and her grandson, Fisher, were involved in a verbal altercation that became physical when John Oblinsky got into a physical altercation with Fisher when a gun was involved, which resulted in Fisher getting shot in the chest.

According to the report, the altercation began upstairs and continued downstairs in a mudroom, where Fisher was found on the floor with a significant amount of blood loss.

Fisher's father said that he had been living with the Oblinskys for about a month at the time of the incident, and that he had a violent nature that caused him to have a number of protection of abuse orders against him as well as a history of mental illness, according to the report.

Officer Ray Clossin had called the coroner's office as the investigation progressed and said that when police arrived on scene, John Oblinsky was outside of the residence shouting, "I killed my grandson."

The Oblinkys told police that Fisher had allegedly gone out drinking the night before and was still sleeping at 5:30 p.m. when Teresa Oblinksy came home from work. His grandmother woke him up and began yelling at him for his behavior, according to the report.

The report said that when John Oblinsky heard the verbal altercation, he grabbed his shotgun and went upstairs. Teresa Oblinsky allegedly grabbed the weapon from her husband and struck Fisher in the forehead with it. John Oblinksy took the weapon back from his wife and fired a warning shot through the floor.

According to the report, the altercation then became more physical and moved downstairs.

When Fisher was trying to get the gun away from his grandfather, John Oblinsky pulled the trigger, shooting Fisher in the chest.

An autopsy performed at ForensicDx in Windber on May 1 showed that the bullet went through Fisher's heart, left lung, spleen and liver.

According to the report, Fisher died of a severe loss of blood due to a gunshot wound to the chest.

Krumenacker told John Oblinsky that if he made a motion to withdraw his plea before sentencing, it would be denied due to the close proximity to the selection scheduling. John Oblinsky said he understood the rights he was waiving with the plea. He will be sentenced at 9 a.m. March 23.