Testimony: Gombert sought police help

On the morning he was killed, David Gombert sought help from Pennsylvania State Police with “defamation on Facebook” before going to Eric Mumaw’s house.

Mumaw, 32, Kline Township, is charged with shooting Gombert during an incident at his home Nov. 1, 2016. Mumaw is charged with first- and third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, prohibited offensive weapons, possessing an instrument of crime, simple and aggravated assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. According to previous testimony, Gombert was shot in the chest and also punched in the mouth by Mumaw, who used brass knuckles for the punch.

According to testimony Tuesday, Trooper William Clark of the Hazleton barracks told Gombert that making derogatory statements about someone on Facebook wasn’t a criminal offense. Clark suggested to Gombert that he reach out to local police. Clark also asked Gombert if he wanted an officer to reach out to Mumaw; Gombert said no.

Gombert shook Clark’s hand and said, “Thank you,” Clark testified, adding that “he (Gombert) was not angry. Gombert had shown Clark a screen shot of a statement Mumaw posted to Facebook. Although he didn’t recall the exact words, Clark said the message advised people to lock up their girls or girlfriends, because Gombert would get them drunk and take advantage of them.

Gombert arrived at the Hazleton State Police barracks at around 8 a.m. Ironically, later that day Clark was asked to assist in a death notification, notifying members of Gombert’s family about his passing.

Kirstyn Sharbuno, Mumaw’s former girlfriend, was next to testify. She is now married; while dating Mumaw her last name was Kankowski. She said she dated Mumaw more than four years and lived with him for about one year, moving out in June 2016. Under cross-examination by defense attorney Andrew Katsock, Sharbuno admitted the two “still had feelings for each other” and continued a sexual relationship for about two months after she moved out.

On the night before the shooting, Gombert was at her apartment “to hang out,” she said. The two were just friends who had met through Gombert's cousin Sarah, she said. Gombert took a picture of her posing with two glasses of wine, giving the “thumbs-up” sign with both hands, and sent that image to both her cousin Sarah and to Mumaw.

“I told him that wasn’t a good idea,” she said. In the morning, while she was at work, she received a series of text messages from Mumaw which she classified as “mean,” adding that she “wasn’t very happy about what was being posted and said.”

She and Gombert also texted that morning. Sharbuno testified that she told Gombert not to go to Mumaw’s house because she “wasn’t sure what he (Mumaw) was capable of doing” because Mumaw “had violent tendencies in the past.”

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Andrew Katsock presented information that had been forensically downloaded from Gombert’s phone as part of the state police investigation. Through his questioning, Katsock asked Sharbuno several times if she had provided Mumaw’s address to Gombert, and each time she was adamant in her reply, stating, “I did not give him directions.”

Using a combination of text messages, FB chat, and a copy of a browser search, Katsock presented a timeline:

8:20: texts between Gombert and Sharbuno include, “I’m already at the state police barracks.” She replies, “Let me know what happens,” and he replies, “Will do.”

8:25: Gombert texts Sharbuno, “They can’t do anything,” and she replies, “Seriously?”

8:37: Gombert asks, “What’s his address?” and she replies, “Going there?” His response, “I’m ending this now.” At some time after that exchange Gombert searched for the address using his phone. Katsock asked Sharbuno if she gave him directions and she said, “No.”

9:02: Gombert sends Sharbuno a picture of Mumaw’s house and asks if it’s Mumaw’s house. Her reply is, “Yep.”

Recalled to testify

Assistant District Attorney Mike Stine recalled state trooper Eric Schaeffer. According to previous testimony, Schaeffer transported Mumaw to the Frackville barracks, and determined then that he should be seen by a doctor. Schaeffer rode with Mumaw to the Pottsville Hospital and interviewed him there.

During testimony Tuesday, Schaeffer said that on Nov. 3, 2016, he interviewed Mumaw at the state police barracks in Frackville for five hours. During the interview, Mumaw said that he had considered he and Sharbuno to be “soul mates.”

Schaeffer said Mumaw was questioned about the events of the Nov. 1, 2016, morning four times, and each time he varied his story especially regarding the use of brass knuckles.

Asked about the use of other weapons, Mumaw replies, “No, not that I’m aware of.” When Schaeffer asks him directly about the brass knuckles, Mumaw describes the weapon as a “belt buckle” and added that he had planned to weave his shoestrings in and out of the brass knuckles. The brass knuckles had been found inside Mumaw’s shoe the morning of the shooting, while he and Schaeffer were at the hospital.

During the interview, Mumaw first said he hadn’t taken the brass knuckles out of his shoe. In a subsequent retelling of the events, he said he did punch Gombert once, using his bare hand, and that he had a large knuckle because he always cracked his knuckles.

Noting the horrific injury to Gombert, Schaeffer said to Mumaw, “Mike Tyson couldn’t hit a man that hard.”