Verdict due for officer in son’s shooting


January 25, 2012 at 8:36a.m.

Verdict due for officer in son’s shooting

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A judge says he’ll soon deliver a verdict in the case of a Pittsburgh-area police officer charged with involuntary manslaughter and various endangerment charges after his 5-year-old son fatally shot himself with the officer’s duty weapon — which was kept in a closet near candy.

Thirty-nine-year-old John Thompson’s son, Gavin, shot himself on Nov. 26, 2010, at their home in Liberty Borough. At the time, Thompson was a part-time police officer in that borough and full-time in Port Vue, another tiny Pittsburgh suburb, but is now on unpaid leave.

Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning must decide whether the officer was reckless or grossly negligent and, therefore, guilty in the boy’s death — or whether the shooting was a tragic accident, as the officer’s attorney claims.