Deputy fatally shoots gunman on porch in Pittsburgh

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

A sheriff’s deputy killed a 19-year-old gunman who had kept law enforcement officers at bay after they responded to reports he was acting erratically with a gun on a city street Wednesday, police said.

Homicide detectives were investigating, but preliminary indications were that the man either advanced toward the deputy or aimed his gun at the officer and refused to drop it before he was shot, police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.

“There were officers positioned all around the house,” she said. “It appears as though he walked toward the rear of the home or the side of the home, and he engaged the deputy, and the deputy gave him commands to put down the weapon, and he raised the weapon.”

The confrontation began about 9:30 a.m. in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section, parts of which are blighted and crime-ridden. The deputy fired one shot, hitting the man in the chest, Richard said. Police didn’t immediate identify the deputy.

The man was taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, where he died. He was later identified by the Allegheny County medical examiner as Odell Brown.

It was not immediately clear why Brown had the gun or wouldn’t surrender. Richard said initial reports were that he was walking down the street with a handgun. Police blocked streets and warned neighbors to stay inside.

The gunman kept police at bay when he retreated to a porch and refused to drop his gun.