Please keep this thread civil. But I feel that this should be discussed if it hasn't/isn't been already.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512560,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512560,00.html
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.
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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.
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.
I hope this perp gets the full extent of any possible punishment and then burns in heck.
