In the late hours of a Sunday night in June, the quiet of Cresson Borough was shattered by the sound of gunshots. Near the intersection of Front Street and Keystone Avenue, 31-year-old Ambrose Bowers, a male from Altoona, was found lying in the roadway. State police were called to the scene around 11:55 p.m. on June 16, 2024, where they discovered Bowers had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m.
on Monday, June 17, with the cause of death determined to be massive blood loss.
An investigation was quickly launched by the state police, with assistance from several local law enforcement agencies. The events leading to the fatal shooting began earlier that evening at the Shovel Head Tavern on Front Street. Inside the bar, an altercation had reportedly occurred involving 46-year-old Douglas B. Leap. Bowers' girlfriend, who was working as a bartender, had cut Leap off due to his level of intoxication after he had been drinking for hours. As Leap was preparing to leave, he allegedly made comments to another man and suggested they take their interaction outside. Ambrose Bowers then intervened in the situation.
Following the exchange, both Leap and Bowers left the tavern. Bowers reportedly told his girlfriend that he saw Leap brandishing a gun as he walked up the road. A short time later, Bowers was shot and killed. He was found to have suffered seven gunshot wounds, with four to his back. In the aftermath, investigators arrested Douglas B. Leap and charged him with criminal homicide and aggravated assault.
Leap was taken into custody and is being held at the Cambria County Prison without bail. During legal proceedings, his attorney has argued that he acted in self-defense, pointing to the discovery of brass knuckles near Bowers' body at the scene. Despite this claim, all charges against Leap were bound over to the Court of Common Pleas following a preliminary hearing, and the case is proceeding through the justice system.
