Aunt remembers niece whose throat was slashed in Greensburg; Suspect shot by trooper

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A suspected killer was shot and killed by a state trooper moments after troopers and witnesses said he slashed his girlfriend's throat.

Rodney Golden, 41, is accused of killing Anita Sabol, 56, at the Hempfield Towers complex in Greensburg Sunday.

"I'm so glad I got to talk to her yesterday morning," Sabol's aunt, Mary Giacchino, told Channel 11.

Police went to the home after another resident reported a domestic dispute about 11:45 a.m. Sunday.

Sabol was in the hallway and the neighbor heard some kind of noise.

"And he went out there and saw there was this verbal dispute, and the actor caused a laceration right across her throat," said Trooper Steven Limani, spokesman for the state police barracks that patrols Hempfield Township.

State troopers and police from three neighboring municipalities responded and confronted Golden in front of the apartment complex.

"We ended up deploying Tasers, but he had a jacket on, and they didn't seem to work," Limani said. "He got his knife and he went after one of our troopers, who shot him."

Giacchino said Sabol didn't have any kids and recently lost her mother. She said Sabol would have done anything for her.

"I'm not making her out to be a saint. She did some bad things, she did, but she didn't deserve to die like the way she did," said Giacchino.

Golden and Sabol were in a relationship, but police weren't sure if Golden lived with Sabol or just visited her there. Golden's name wasn't on the lease, Limani said.

The complex is owned by the Westmoreland County Housing Authority. According to the agency's website, Hempfield Towers is one of 18 high-rise apartment buildings owned by the authority that is primarily dedicated to elderly tenants. Younger residents with physical and mental disabilities have become eligible to live in the buildings under federal housing regulations, however.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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