Shooter Guns Down 3 Officers, Upset Over Losing Job – Updated
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Update, original post below:
Richard Poplawski: Two profiles emerge
Saturday, April 04, 2009
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friends described a Richard Poplawski far different from the 22-year-old man accused of gunning down three police officers today — a partier sometimes, a guy in search of an understanding of politics, even a walking comedian.
He was also convinced that the government wanted to take away his guns and his freedom.
“I’ve known this kid my entire life and he was a good kid. He never had bad intentions. He never spoke about harming anybody,” said Edward Perkovic, a lifelong friend who had known Mr. Poplawski since the two paired up at a daycare.
Mr. Poplawski attended Immaculate Conception elementary school and moved on to North Catholic High School. A spokesman for the high school today said that he was expelled, but declined to state a reason.
Mr. Perkovic said his friend stopped attending classes so he could take get his General Educational Development certificate then join the Marine Corps.
Records indicate that Mr. Poplawski was dishonorably discharged from the corps during basic training. Friends said he wanted out so he could rejoin his girlfriend.
When that relationship failed, Mr. Poplawski moved for two years to Florida where he worked as a glazier, helping to asemble and replace windows. He returned here in 2006 or 2007.
Mr. Poplawski collaborated with Mr. Perkovic on an Internet show that featured clips — sometimes from local news broadcasts, other times video from around the town — where they discussed politics.
Mr. Poplawski lived with his mother and grandmother in Stanton Heights. Friends said his parents had split years ago and that his father “was totally out of the picture.”
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Nice to see some straight, honest reporting. For comparison, watch this video.
Shooter Wearing Bulletproof Vest Guns Down 3 Pittsburgh Officers, Upset Over Losing Job
Saturday, April 04, 2009
AP
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police say a man wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them.
Police chief Nate Harper says the motive for Saturday’s shooting isn’t clear.
Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
The three dead officers are Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years and the other two only two years each.
Another officer was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.
The gunman, 23-year-old Richard Poplawski, was arrested after a four-hour standoff.
He is charged with three counts of aggravated homicide and assault, police said Saturday.
One witness reported hearing hundreds of shots.
The shootings occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot March 21 in Oakland, Calif., in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001.
One of the gunman’s friend, Edward Perkovic, said Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.”
Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said Poplawski feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he “wasn’t violently against Obama.”
Perkovic, a 22-year-old who said he was Poplawski’s best friend, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, “Eddie, I am going to die today. … Tell your family I love them and I love you.”
Perkovic said: “I heard gunshots and he hung up. … He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot.”
Vire, 23, said Poplawski once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn’t successful. Vire said Poplawski had an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.
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Another friend, Joe DiMarco, said Poplawski had been laid off from his job at a glass factory earlier this year. DiMarco said he didn’t know the name of the company, but knew his friend had been upset about losing his job.
The officers were called to the home in the Stanton Heights neighborhood at about 7 a.m., Richard said.
Tom Moffitt, 51, a city firefighter who lives two blocks away, said he heard about the shooting on his scanner and came to the scene, where he heard “hundreds, just hundreds of shots. And not just once — several times.”
Rob Gift, 45, who lives a block away, said he heard rapid gunfire as he was letting his dog out.
He said the neighborhood of well-kept single-family houses and manicured lawns is home to many police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other city workers.
“It’s just a very quiet neighborhood,” Gift said.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 133 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2008, a 27 percent decrease from year before and the lowest annual total since 1960.
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