DA: Man who killed officer made police threats

DA: Man who killed officer made police threats

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. (AP) — A prosecutor says police went to a western Pennsylvania Dairy Queen to arrest a man wanted for a shooting earlier this month when he unexpectedly opened fire on one of the first officers to arrive.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck won’t say if police expected 33-year-old Charles Post to surrender, but says officers had solid reason to believe they’d arrest him at the ice cream shop in Lower Burrell about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Officers took precautions because, Peck says, Post had previously threatened police who searched for him after an Oct. 2 shooting in neighboring New Kensington.

Authorities say Post followed through on that threat when he killed Lower Burrell Officer Derek Kotecki. Post was then shot to death, though an autopsy Thursday will determine whether the wound was self-inflicted or fired by other officers.