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The family of an Ohio schoolteacher who killed himself after his wife was left permanently disabled in a rock attack say the gang of teens who threw the rock bear the blame for the man's death.   

Father-of-four Randy Budd, 55, shot himself dead at his Uniontown home late Saturday night, just over two years after his wife Sharon suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of a group of teenagers.

Three criminals threw the five-pound rock off an overpass on Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania in July 2014.

It smashed through the window of her family car as her daughter Kaylee was driving  - leaving her in need of constant care.

Family and friends say Mr Budd has now become the second victim of a tragedy that irrevocably changed his family.

'Randy Budd did not die from a gunshot. He died when those kids threw a rock through his windshield,' Peter Johnson, the Union County district attorney, told Penn Live.

'They killed him like they killed her.' 

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Randy Budd, whose wife Sharon was horrifically injured after a rock was dropped through the windshield of her car from an overpass back in 2014, has shot himself dead aged 55 

 

 

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Since she was hit with the rock Sharon has undergone seven surgeries, losing part of her brain and one of her eyes that means she requires round the clock care at home

The attack on Sharon Budd led a state senator, Gene Yaw, to introduce legislation requiring fencing on new and renovated overpasses.

Before committing suicide, Mr Budd texted Yaw, writing: 'Please get the fence issue settled.' 

Mr Budd and his wife were the only ones at home when he killed himself, reports suggest. 

He also texted his family members saying he loved them before pulling the trigger. 

Mr Budd is survived by his daughter Kaylee, and his three sons; Lucas, James and Joe. 

 

 

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Mr Budd is survived by his daughter Kaylee, and his three sons; Lucas, James and Joe

Lucas was in the U.S. Army and served overseas. His father proudly posted images of him in full combat gear on his Facebook. 

Budd was vice president of sales and marketing of Radius Hospitality, a Canton, Ohio, hotel management and sales and revenue management solutions company.

Before that he was a baseball pitcher, and was even drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 1981 draft out of the University of Akron.

District Attorney Johnson, who prosecuted the four youths responsible for Sharon Budd's horrific injuries, released a powerful statement as news surfaced of her husband's death.