Oct. 12--Pittsburgh police are breathing a sigh of relief after an officer shot early this morning escaped virtually unscathed, thanks to a bulletproof vest.
The officer was hit during an exchange of gunfire with a man in Stanton Heights, the same neighborhood where three officers were killed in 2009.
Police said the officer, who worked out of the Zone 5 station, responded about 4:53 a.m. to a report of shots fired at 900 Millerdale Street, near Schenley Manor Drive. The officer found a woman shot in the hand when he got out of his car.
Shortly thereafter, the man believed to have shot the woman began firing at the officer, who returned gunfire, striking the man in the back. The officer was struck once in the chest but the bullet was stopped by the protective vest.
The man ran into a wooded area nearby, where he was later arrested and taken to UPMC Presbyterian. He is under heavy guard at the hospital.
The woman also was taken to UPMC Presbyterian.
The officer was taken to a hospital to get checked out and was at police headquarters this morning to be interviewed.
Police found two bullet holes in the front of the patrol car. Investigators continued to study the scene this morning, blocking off Schenley Manor Drive at Mossfield Street.
In 2009 also in Stanton Heights, Zone 5 officers Paul J. Sciullo II, 37, Stephen J. Mayhle, 29, and Eric G. Kelly, 41, were shot and killed by Richard Poplawski, 22, when they responded to a domestic dispute on April 4.
Moriah Balingit: [email protected], 412-263-2533 or on Twitter @MoriahBee.
Copyright 2012 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
