Pa. Officers Recall Taking Down Hospital Gunman

University of Pittsburgh police officers burst into a nightmare of blood, smoke and screaming when they responded to reports of a gunman in Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

"It's not something that will be easily forgotten, but you deal with it and do what you have to do," Officer Joe Washinski, 28, of Washington County said on Thursday. "I have no fear. If anything, I have less because I know everyone on this shift is going to do their job when the time comes."

The frozen fear of some people and the screams of others surrounded the two teams of officers who were first to arrive after John F. Shick, 30, of Oakland started shooting in the hospital on March 8. He killed Michael Schaab, 25, of Regent Square and wounded five others with two semi-automatic pistols before Sgt. Dan Papale fatally shot Shick three times.

"The most impressionable thing was the fear of the people there," said Officer Brian Turack, 24, of Export. "They were frozen, they couldn't talk. They were in shock, just standing and crying."

Officer Stephen Tomovich, 53, of Donora rode to the building with Turack and tried to talk to a woman tucked in a corner stairwell to get information on the shooter when he arrived.

"She was pure panic," Tomovich said. "She was trembling and hyperventilating. She didn't say a word to me."

Two groups of Pitt officers quickly circled in on the gunman and said they relied on their training.

"Immediately, shots came our way and the glass is shattering behind us," Tomovich said.

Lt. Dave Basile and Officer Brian Veze returned fire and Shick backed into a hallway where Schaab lay dead. The other team of officers closed in from the other end of the hallway.

"The amount of smoke and dust was incredible," Turack said. "Anyone who's done construction work knows what dry wall smells like. You could just taste it from the rounds."

Papale, 30, of O'Hara, who teaches "active shooter" training at Pitt, said he saw Shick walking toward the officers and ordered him to stop and put his hands up.

"His face was really emotionless," said Papale, an officer on the force for six years. "I think he recognized what I was saying, but it didn't have any impact."

Shick knelt on one knee behind hospital employee Keith Taylor, who sat bleeding in the hallway with a bullet wound in his ankle.

"He came up with a gun and he fired straight off. I fired two rounds," hitting him with with both, Papale said. One of Shick's bullets struck Officer Guy Johnson in his bulletproof vest.

Shick moved forward and Papale fired again, killing him. He said his training aided his quick response, but that emotions eventually caught up to him: It was the first time he had shot someone.

"Did you ever almost step off a curb and a car goes flying by and you think, 'Wow, I almost died?' " Papale said. "It was one of those moments."

Every Pitt officer goes through active shooter training at least once a year and the department's Specialized Emergency Response Team trains once a month, said Cmdr. Shawn Ellies. Papale, Washinski and Turack are members of the SERT team, and Tomovich spent 17 years with a state police SERT team before joining Pitt police three years ago.

"We have to take the actor's focus off the vulnerable community and have him target us," said Ellies, who oversees the training.

The officers had to take five days off after the shooting. All but Officer Brian Veze, who hurt his knee and ankle, have returned to work. Turack returned to the hospital to try to get closure from the incident.

"It was like a bad dream," he said. "To go back when it's not all dark and smoky and dusty -- it was interesting -- to walk my path."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service