Details of Pittsburgh police shootings emerge in filings

[bronxiteforever]

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By The Tribune-Review
Sunday, April 5, 2009

After shooting the first two police officers who answered a 911 call at his Stanton Heights home early yesterday, Richard Poplawski stood over one of the fallen officers and pumped two or three more bullets into his body, police reported in court papers filed this morning.At 7:11, Officers Paul J. Sciullo III and Stephen Mayhle went to the door. The suspect's mother let them in, saying "come and take his ass," the affidavit states.

When the officers were about 10 feet in the door, Richard Poplawski opened fire with a rifle, his mother said. "What the hell have you done?" she said she asked before fleeing to the basement.

An unnamed neighbor reported seeing Poplawski shoot two or three more times into an officer who fell near the front stoop, later identified as Mayhle, 29, the affidavit states. The body of Sciullo, 37, was found in the living room.

Officer Eric Kelly, 41, responded to the initial call on his way home from work and was shot outside, police said. Another unnamed witness described seeing Kelly crawl on a sidewalk near a bullet-riddled van before Officer Timothy McManaway arrived and pulled him behind a parked vehicle.

Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_619348.html

[ohio2007]

1. what about the details on the two previous occasions the police dispatched to that house?

What were those calls for?

[stray cat]

3. Domestic violence between the shooter and his mom

[bronxiteforever]

4. Tuning up his girl on the load

In 2005, a girlfriend of Poplawski filed a protection from abuse order against him, claiming that during an argument he grabbed her by the hair and threatened to kill her.

http://kdka.com/local/friends.suspects.Poplawski.2.976548.html

[edc]

2. We might just have

our NRA Man of the Year, but then again it's only Spring.

[VPStoltz]

13. I should say!

Isn't it great that we have a 1st Amendment permitting us to speak out against our government and the 2nd Amendment providing us with a seemingly acceptable means to do so?

[MyOwnPeace]

5. Pittsburgh shooter

Please be aware that the Pittsburgh Tribune Review is owned by Richard Scaife, the great supporter of all things ultra-right! Funny how they failed to include any of this nutcase's beliefs supported by the far-right support groups ("Obama's comin' to take my guns!).
Well, I guess I should be surprised that they even covered it!

[RamboLiberal]

7. I can't believe I'm saying be fair to the Trib-but they did cover that

Snippets:

Friends describe accused shooter as angry man

He slept with a gun under his pillow in a basement room filled with firearms and ammunition, convinced that Jews controlled the media and President Obama was scheming to take away his arsenal, friends and relatives said Saturday.

Perkovic said Poplawski usually was affable and kind, but grew angry recently over fears Obama would outlaw guns. He said Poplawski owned a bullet-proof vest, an AK-47 assault rifle and at least seven other weapons, but obtained the firearms legally.

He said Poplawski feared America was "going to see the end of our times." Poplawski had little interest in clubs or sports in high school, but was a diehard Penguins fan, Perkovic said.

Another Stanton Heights friend, Aaron Bire, 22, said Poplawski "talked about Zionists controlling the media and thought Obama had good press because of his race."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_619323.html

[Why Syzygy]

9. They are sure going to take away HIS guns!

I'm angry at the mother too. And, doesn't dispatch routinely ask if there are ANY WEAPONS at the residence before walking through the door?

She needs to go to jail too:

The complaint says Margaret Poplawski called 911 about 7 a.m. Saturday to report that her son was "giving her a hard time." Video Watch officers respond at the scene »

She told police she awoke to discover that "the dog had urinated on the floor," and awakened her son "to confront him about it."

The two had an argument, and Margaret Poplawski told her son she was calling police to remove him from her home, according to the complaint. When officers Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III arrived, she opened the door and let them in.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/05/pittsburgh.officers.shot.dog/

:grr:

[RamboLiberal]

11. According to what I've read and heard she said no guns in the house

on the 911 call. I'm sure it will be played in coming days.

BTW, according to Marty Griffin on radio this afternoon the friend, who I don't totally trust since he was lying today about what he said yesterday and even threatened a libel suit to Griffin, said she had mental health issues.

[Why Syzygy]

14. Obviously.

Roust a 22 y/o out of bed @ 7 AM on Saturday morning to start a fight about dog piss!
Why not just get a paper towel? sheesh

Are we to believe she didn't know he had an arsenal downstairs?

[lapfog_1]

15. This guy HAD to have a Freeper handle...

talk about fitting the profile.

[Hawaii Hiker]

12. Another thing about the Trib - After Obama won, their editorial board

wrote such a vile editorial the next day...They couldn't wish him well, they just hoped he'd be a one term analomy....Nothing but a bunch of classless pigs at that paper...

[Milspec]

6. I see a needle in Poplawski's future

[RamboLiberal]

8. Probably get the death sentence

but it may never be carried out. Pennsylvania hasn't executed anyone in a very long time. There are several cop killers on death row as well as racist spree killer Richard Baumhammer.

[dropkickpa]

10. Non-scaife-rag paper link

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09095/960798-100.stm

Affidavit lays out details of Stanton Heights slayings of 3 officers
Sunday, April 05, 2009
By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Richard Poplawski, the suspect in the killing of three Pittsburgh police officers yesterday, emerged from his Stanton Heights home after shooting two of the officers and fired additional shots into one of the victims, who was sprawled on the ground near the front stoop, a report says.

A police criminal complaint described the sequence of events that began with a domestic-violence call at 7:03 a.m. and led to the shooting deaths of Officers Paul Sciullo III, Stephen J. Mayhle and Eric Kelly at 1016 Fairfield St.

The suspect's mother, Margaret Poplawski, called 911 to say that she had argued with her son after she discovered that a dog had urinated on the floor of the house. She told police she wanted him removed.

Officers Sciullo and Mayhle radioed at 7:11 that they had arrived at the home. Mrs. Poplawski told police she opened the door and told police "come and take his ass."

PDF of criminal complaint http://www.post-gazette.com/downloads/20090405affadavit_poplawski.pdf