Story continues to develop:
Monday, December 12, 2005
By Steve Levin, Jonathan D. Silver and Michael A. Fuoco
State, county and city police surrounded an apartment building on the South Side and shut down streets in the area today as they sought to arrest a suspect connected with the fatal shooting of a state police corporal.
Cpl. Joseph Pokorny was shot while making a traffic stop shortly after 2 a.m. today in the parking lot of the Extended Stay America hotel near the Carnegie exit of Interstate 279, officials said. A Carnegie Borough officer on routine patrol discovered the body about 10 minutes later after spotting the empty patrol car.
An autopsy today determined Cpl. Pokorny died of a gunshot to the chest. Officials said he had been shot multiple times following what appeared to be a violent struggle.
Police were looking for a black 2001 Mercury sedan, while officers from several departments joined in a manhunt in a wooded area near the shooting, authorities said. Police said Cpl. Pokorny's gun was also missing.
This morning, SWAT teams from several police agencies took up positions around an apartment building in the 2800 block of Sarah Street on the South Side. Several of the small, one-way streets in the area were blocked off.
Police have not provided details but appeared to be evacuating some of the units in the building.
Cpl. Pokorny, 45, was a 22-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police, having graduated from the academy in November 1983. He was promoted to corporal in September 2000 and worked as a patrol unit supervisor for Troop B, Pittsburgh, working out of the barracks in Moon.
Cpl. Pokorny was a 1978 graduate of Center Area High School in Monaca, Beaver County.
Cpl. Pokorny, who was twice divorced, is the father of a son, Joseph, 17, and a daughter, Alexandra, 15.
In 1999, he was among 20 federal, state and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors chosen as recipients of Outstanding Performance in Law Enforcement awards by the Law Enforcement Agency Directors, or L.E.A.D, created to encourage cooperation among the 17 law enforcement agencies in Western Pennsylvania.
The last state trooper killed during a traffic stop was Joseph J. Sepp Jr., 34, of Windber, Somerset County, who died Nov. 10, 2002. Trooper Sepp died a day after he was shot in the head following what began as a suspected drunken-driving stop in Ebensburg.
Mark Leach, 48, of New Germany, Cambria County, was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting Sepp and is serving a life sentence.
