Off-duty officer shot in back dies

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

An off-duty Pittsburgh police officer critically wounded in a shooting over the weekend has died of his injuries, authorities said Wednesday.

Chief Scott Schubert said Officer Calvin Hall, 36, died Wednesday at a hospital. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is “heartbroken” and “in mourning,” he said.

Pittsburgh public safety officials said Hall was hit by gunfire early Sunday during a street dispute in the Homewood section of the city as one or more parties were going on.

Schubert said Hall was shot three times in the back. He said there was a “strong possibility” that Hall, although off duty, “was in fact acting under the color of the law when he was fatally shot.”

Family members told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Hall was visiting cousins but decided to leave because a party across the street was getting rowdy, but returned to make sure everyone was safe after one of the cousins was threatened by someone with a gun.

Mayor Bill Peduto said he had ordered flags at city facilities to fly at half-staff.