DA: Grand jury to review fatal standoff

DA: Grand jury to review fatal standoff

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. says the pellet gun held by a Pittsburgh man fatally shot in an armed standoff looked like a real pistol.

But Zappala has stopped short of saying the June 13 shooting of 19-year-old Odell Brown was justified.

Instead, the prosecutor wants a grand jury to review the shooting, the response by city police and that of county sheriff’s deputies — including one who fired the fatal shot after Brown allegedly aimed the pellet gun at him.

Brown’s relatives say they knew he owned a pellet gun and have questioned why law enforcement officers didn’t ask them about the kind of weapon Brown might be carrying. But Zappala says even if Brown’s family had passed on that information that police couldn’t have taken a chance when Brown aimed the gun at officers.