Pittsburgh to pay Garfield woman $7K to fix home after SWAT shootout
A Pittsburgh homeowner whose house was damaged during a SWAT shootout in August will receive money from the city to repair her home.
Thousands of bullets were exchanged during a six-hour standoff Aug. 23 between police and a man in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood.
The shooter, William Hardison, Jr., 63, died in the shootout. No one else was seriously injured in the incident, but several nearby homes were riddled with bullets.
One of the homeowners, Jackie Lane, will receive help from the city to cover the costs of fixing the damage.
City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a nearly $7,000 payout for Lane, which will cover the cost of her insurance deductible, said Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey.
Six other neighbors late last year received a total of about $4,000 from the city for damage to their homes, Montaño said. The city is reviewing one additional claim.
The SWAT situation started when seven Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies in body armor arrived that morning to evict Hardison from 4817 Broad St.
Hardison opened fire within minutes of deputies knocking on his door, authorities said, and the situation escalated into an hours-long standoff involving Pittsburgh police, Allegheny County Police, several SWAT teams, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
City police oversaw operations on the scene.
In the aftermath of the violence, Lane told TribLive she had been wary of Hardison and had even called the sheriff’s office to warn them she felt Hardison was dangerous.
“We knew he was unstable,” Lane, a retired executive, told TribLive in August. “Most of us were afraid of him. We knew he wouldn’t leave peacefully. But we had no idea what would happen.”
Related:
• 'We knew he wouldn't leave peacefully,' neighbor says of Garfield shooting suspect
• Garfield gunman dead after 6-hour standoff
• Nearly 50 Pittsburgh police officers on administrative leave following fatal Garfield standoff
Julia Felton is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jfelton@triblive.com.
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