Incident in US-PA

Three officers from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police were killed and another of its officers was injured in an ambush at a residence shortly after 7 a.m. on April 4. At 7:03 a.m., dispatchers received a call of a domestic dispute at the residence, and two officers arrived at the scene at 7:11 a.m. One officer was 36 years old and had more than 1 year of law enforcement experience; the other officer was 28 years old and had nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience. Each was wearing body armor. The complainant, who had called and asked police to remove her adult son from the house, admitted the officers into the dwelling. She apparently was unaware that her son had come into the room with a .22-caliber rifle. When the officers entered about 10 feet into the house, he opened fire on them with an unknown number of rounds. The woman fled downstairs to the basement as each officer was hit in the front of the head. The 36-year-old officer was hit at point blank range and fell to the floor inside the house. The other officer apparently had moved outside of the house to the front stoop, where he fell. Witnesses said the man opened the screen door and fired two or three more shots at the fallen officer, then went back inside. Both officers died at the scene. At approximately 7:16 a.m., dispatchers received calls about the downed officers, and a 45-year-old officer, who had 26 years of law enforcement experience, responded. As he arrived at the scene, he saw that another officer, aged 41 and with more than 14 years of law enforcement experience, had responded to the call and had been shot below the waist and in the chest. The wounded officer, who was wearing body armor and was off-duty just having completed the night shift, was lying on the ground near his vehicle. As the responding officer took cover near the front of the vehicle to assess the situation, the assailant fired an unknown number of rounds from a 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifle from the residence toward the vehicle, striking the officer in the hand. The officer, despite his injury, pulled the other wounded officer to cover behind the vehicle and fired at the assailant until the SWAT team arrived. The fatally wounded officer was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. When the SWAT team arrived, officers took up positions around the area, and a 3-hour standoff ensued during which time the assailant exchanged gunfire with police intermittently. The man had been stockpiling weapons and had used several weapons in the incident, including a 12-gauge shotgun, a .357-caliber revolver, and a .380-caliber handgun. Several rounds from the assailant’s weapons struck the SWAT team’s vehicle as well as nearby residences. Police returned fire, and at one point, struck the man in the leg, wounding him. The assailant, who was 22 years old and was wearing body armor, then allowed the police to enter the home. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault and three counts of Criminal Homicide. His mother was safely removed from the home without injuries. The officer with the injured hand recovered from his injury and returned to duty on April 25.