AG agents shoot at suspected child predator who fled North Fayette sting
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Police fired several shots at the car of a suspected child predator they were trying to arrest Thursday at a North Fayette business park.
Justin David Torres allegedly fled the business park after ignoring commands to stop and speeding at officers who fired shots at his car, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
Torres was under investigation by the attorney general’s Bureau of Special Investigations after he allegedly made plans to meet with who he thought was a 14-year-old for sex, according to the police complaint filed against him.
According to the complaint, Special Agent Duane E. Tabak posed online as a child. While online Thursday, Tabak’s undercover profile received a private message on social media from someone alleging to be a 27-year-old man.
Tabak chatted with the man, sending a fake picture and agreeing to meet. When Tabak, acting undercover, asked the man what he wanted to do, the man responded explicitly, indicating sexual activity, according to the complaint.
At 4:18 p.m., agents spotted Torres at the meeting location, a business park in North Fayette. When Tabak and other officers approached him with their badges showing, Torres aggressively backed out of his parking spot, Tabak said. Torres allegedly ignored commands to stop and accelerated toward an officer, who fired a shot into Torres’ windshield.
Torres allegedly continued evading arrest, attempting to drive out of the business park and repeatedly driving directly at officers, according to the complaint. Tabak said Torres nearly struck several officers, who continued to fire shots at the vehicle, before fleeing the scene.
Torres’ license plate was called into Allegheny County dispatch, and he was later seen traveling on Route 22/30. An officer stopped the vehicle and took Torres into custody.
Once in custody, Torres allegedly acknowledged that the social media profile and communications with the undercover agent were his.
Torres is being charged with unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated assault and criminal use of a communications facility, among other offenses, according to the official complaint.
Mark Shade, press secretary for the Office of Pennsylvania Attorney General, said there were no injuries to agents or to the suspect. The investigation is ongoing.
This is the second time this year that agents with the AG’s have had to shoot at a suspect during an undercover sting. In July, agents conducting an undercover drug buy at a shopping plaza along McKnight Road in Ross shot and killed a suspected drug dealer who had shot and wounded an officer during the operation.