Lehigh County DA: 2 deaths believed justifiable homicides during robberies

A prosecutor says the first two homicides of the year in the eastern Pennsylvania city of Allentown, which happened within days of each other, are both believed to have been self-defense during attempted robberies.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin ruled Thursday that the killing of a man who broke into an Allentown home and attacked a juvenile the previous weekend was a justified use of self-defense.

Hours after the ruling, authorities said, a man opened fire on the masked armed robber of an east Allentown pizza shop, killing him.

Martin said that shooting also was an act of self-defense.