Pennsylvania eviction ends with 6-hour SWAT shootout

Pittsburgh, PA shooter Bill Hardison is dead. Six-hour standoff with police ends after squatter fires hundreds of shots at SWAT teams barricaded in his dead brother's house. The edition told in more detail Daily Mail.

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A police source said the shooter is 63-year-old William (Bill) Hardison Sr. The house on Broad Street in Garfield belonged to his recently deceased brother.

Several SWAT teams surrounded the scene and exchanged gunfire with Hardison after he barricaded himself inside the house around 11:00 a.m. following a failed police attempt to enforce an eviction notice.

After 16:40 p.m., a drone found the shooter "lying" and bloody as it flew around the house, and less than 30 minutes later, police confirmed the man's death.

“We wanted a peaceful solution, in this case the surrender of the shooter, so we used a variety of methods to achieve that goal,” said Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Schiroto. “We were met with gunfire at every opportunity.”

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Hardison is said to have been well supplied with firearms and ammunition. He fired about 100 rounds. During the confrontation, the suspect fired at law enforcement officers from the windows of the first and second floors, as well as through the walls, writes CNN.

His son, also named William Hardison, was at the scene and begged his father to end the standoff.

“Dad, please give up. Please give up,” he said. - You have children and grandchildren who love you very much. Please back off."

A woman who identified herself as the man's sister offered herself as an intermediary.

“He is a good man, he just lost his brother and was in the service,” she shouted to reporters.

But the police did not take her as an intermediary, as the shooter might not recognize her in the chaos.

Speculation arose that the man could be dead after no shots were fired for an hour during the day, and police prepared a remote-controlled armored excavator to break into the house.

However, shortly after 15:00, the shooting resumed and the television crews were ordered to leave the area.

Family member Marlene Jones said that Hardison was a father and grandfather who loved his dogs.

She revealed that his brother had left home for Hardison, but his mental health had been deteriorating over the course of a year.

“He got worse and worse,” she explained. “If only they would just let me or his girlfriend Karen go down there. Whatever was on his mind told him he didn't have to pay the rent."

“He was a jokester, very teddy bear-like and could make everyone laugh,” Jones said.

Another family member said he had no idea what was going on but would offer him a room if he needed accommodation.

But neighbors described him as aggressive and said he boarded up the windows of the house with large "Do Not Disturb" signs.

Criminal past

Hardison had a criminal record and once pleaded guilty to carrying a firearm without a license and received a two-year suspended sentence.

In addition, he pleaded guilty to forgery, change of ownership or registration, for which he received a three-year suspended sentence.

Hardison also pleaded guilty to an accident resulting in death or injury, and in 2005 received a two-year suspended sentence.

In another incident in 2001, he confessed to running away or trying to hide, as well as disorderly conduct, for which he received a six-month suspended sentence.

"I'm sure as the investigation continues, we'll learn a lot more about him, about his home and family," said Pittsburgh Police Department Chief Larry Skiroto.

Eviction Notice

After the death of his brother, the property was sold on payment of taxes and now has a new owner, but Hardison refused to release him.

After his brother's death, he went into debt on the mortgage on the house and owed more than $15.

The house was taken over by a company that bought the property for $25 in March and filed an eviction notice with Hardison in May saying he was living there without paying rent.

The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office served him an eviction notice on August 23, after which shooting began.

Seven police officers went to evict the man from the house, and he opened fire. The police took cover and then returned fire.

At least nine hearings were held on the matter, according to court documents.

One police source said the gunman identified himself as a "sovereign citizen" and anti-government extremist.

The new homeowners' lawyer said the officers were warned that the squatter was armed and the issue of his eviction could be volatile.

According to witnesses, the police first knocked on the door and then used a sledgehammer to get inside. It was at that moment that the shooting began.

Soon everything turned into a shootout, hundreds of shots were fired.

At some point, the police broke into several neighboring houses to put the nearest neighbors in a safe place.

The footage shows SWAT teams shooting at the house to cover the officers who broke in and dragged the neighbor into the armored vehicle.

The suspect shot down four police drones that were deployed around the house to provide assistance to teams on the ground.

US President Joe Biden was briefed on the latest developments from the scene as the shootout progressed.

"Shots were fired everywhere"

According to initial reports, some of the first sheriff's deputies who arrived on the scene ran out of ammunition.

The officer received a non-gunshot wound when he fell trying to avoid the fire. He needed stitches in his head. No other injuries were reported.

About a dozen Pittsburgh SWAT officers arrived on the scene and prepared to confront the shooter.

One officer was "pinched" in a defensive position during the assault. He was rescued by a SWAT officer.

The video shows several police cars surrounding a residential street, with at least 20 gunshots heard in the background.

One neighbor said he heard hundreds of shots when the shooting started and hundreds more have been fired since then.

Chris Wilkinson, who is visiting family in the area, described what he saw: “At first, we only heard the police. They knocked on the door. Then, after a couple of minutes, they started kicking the door, but after several attempts, they failed. Then they took a sledgehammer and broke down the door, after which the shots began. I was very nervous. You think you can be safe, but you're not, given what's going on."

Leslie Thompson, who lives in the house across the street, added: “It's incredible. I was very nervous. There were shots everywhere."

She ran to the basement when she heard the horror happening outside the window. The woman was screaming and crying while talking on the phone with her manager, shots hit her house.

The witness said the shots came through the window of her living room and bathroom, which is now riddled with bullet holes.

According to Thompson, glass is broken everywhere in her house.

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“It was almost impossible to get into the basement, there were shots everywhere,” she noted. “I tried to go down to the basement, but locked myself in my office because the bullets were very close. Then I managed to crawl to the basement. I squatted there in the corner, and there was just a barrage of bullets flying around,” she said.

Thompson was evacuated from the house by the police. The woman said that “by the grace of God” she was alive.

"This is the day we've been preparing for"

Pittsburgh Police Department Chief Larry Skiroto commented, “The coordinated effort has saved many lives, the lives of many officers in a tense and unstable environment, and in doing so, officers have saved lives. Subject was neutralized in the shootout. We gave him every opportunity to surrender, so the incident took as long as it took. We gave more than four and a half hours for a peaceful surrender, which never took place.

After a while, he added: “I don’t think there is anything normal in this incident. This is the day we were preparing for, but did not expect it to come. However, we were very prepared for the threat we faced.”

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey released a statement after the shooting and said, "Pittsburgh, I ask you to join us in prayer tonight for the entire community of Garfield, a peaceful neighborhood that has experienced an unfortunate tragedy today. I want to thank all of our federal, state, and local law enforcement officers who have worked here to keep this area and our city safe, as well as our response team that was on the scene and helped provide support to those who needed her."

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