Manayunk man charged in wife’s shooting

Update Tuesday, 12:23 p.m. – Gregory Mitros of Manayunk was charged today with the murder of his wife, Lynda Karlin-Mitros. Philadelphia police say the crime happened after an argument in their home on the 100 block of Markle Street. 

City police said the 52-year-old Manayunk man called them around 4:30 Monday afternoon to report he’d just shot and killed his wife. 

Neighbors who packed the sidewalk in disbelief on Monday night as police conducted the crime scene investigation inside the Markle Street home had a hard time believing that the man they called Greg could have killed his wife intentionally. 

Captain John Cerrone of the 5th Police District said the fatal shooting was the result of an “unfortunate domestic dispute that went bad.”

“Sometime during the course of the altercation, a gun came into play and it appears the 64-year-old white female was shot at least one time in the left side of her head,” Cerrone said. 

Cerrone said the woman was found at the bottom of the staircase inside the house and pronounced dead at the scene. The man was taken into custody and taken to the homicide unit for further investigation.

As neighbors sat on the stoop of a nearby house, they shared their disbelief in quiet comments.

Among the mumbles were “There’s no way he would have done this,” and “That’s just not Greg.”

A small streetlamp outside of the home flickered at a steady beat as police went in to carry out the body.

Lisa Fletcher has lived next to the married couple for the past 14 years. She says she’s close friends with them and has vacationed with them many times over the years.  

“I work around the corner so when I saw the fire engine pull up I came running around and the cops weren’t here yet, but when I saw where they were going I just knew it was bad,” she said.

Fletcher said the two had been together for about 27 years and married since the ’80s.  She said Linda had two children from a previous marriage and two grandchildren.

“This is not something I would expect from that house; I mean [Greg] loved her to death, he would do anything for her.”

She said such an act of violence seemed too out of character for the husband and that she had another theory of how the shooting occurred.

“She’s been depressed, she hasn’t been feeling well,” Fletcher said. “I don’t think it happened that way. I know Lynda has been going through a lot and I honestly think he tried to save her, to stop her, and it accidentally went off.” 

Fletcher describes Lynda as “a good woman who would do anything for anybody; she loved people.” She was known to strike up conversations with strangers and make newcomers on the street feel welcome.

She added that the two had just returned from a funeral for Greg’s cousin before the shooting happened.

“I know he wouldn’t do this no matter what,” Fletcher said. “He would never hurt her.”

NewsWorks will follow this story as it develops.