Police chiefs tell state agency that DA found cops 'justified' in killing Upper St. Clair man

Three South Hills police chiefs whose officers fatally shot a mentally ill Upper St. Clair man in January have told a state agency that the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office determined their use of force was justified.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has made no public statements about the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Christopher Shepherd, 48, by officers from Baldwin Borough, Bethel Park and Brentwood.

But in signed statements the chiefs sent to the state Office of Open Records as part of a case involving TribLive, they maintained the district attorney “has determined that the police were justified in their use of force against Mr. Shepherd because he had threatened police with serious bodily harm.”

The district attorney’s office repeatedly declined this week to corroborate the chief’s statements.

Shepherd’s family also declined to comment on the chiefs’ statements, but previously had questioned whether police used excessive force.

Details about the sequence of events leading up to the shooting remain unclear.

In his statement, Bethel Park Chief David Arnold wrote that “while attempting to detain Mr. Shepherd, he attempted to stab an officer.”

Brentwood Chief Adam Zeppuhar made no mention of that detail but wrote that Shepherd “refused commands to drop the weapon and get on the ground.”

Two Bethel Park police officers and one officer each from Baldwin and Brentwood fired their guns, police have said.

All three police forces and the agency that runs the regional SWAT team on which those officers serve have refused to name the officers, denying multiple open-records requests by TribLive.

The chiefs’ statements were contained in responses to a pending open-records case under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

TribLive sought information about the officers involved in the shooting as well as details about the regional SWAT team. The departments denied the requests, and TribLive filed appeals with the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg.

Upper St. Clair’s police chief also submitted a written statement addressing the district attorney’s findings on the use of force. The statement echoed those of his peers.

The township’s officers responded to take Shepherd into custody for a mental health evaluation Jan. 7 — but did not open fire.

All four police departments denied multiple requests for various records, citing officer safety.

Zappala’s office said this week that the DA was not available for comment about the chiefs’ statements.

Their declarations are the first to shed light on the district attorney’s purported thinking about the sequence of events that ended with Shepherd’s death.

CIRT team

Shortly before 3 p.m. on Jan. 7, Shepherd’s mother, with whom he lived, consulted with an Allegheny County mental health worker and decided to involuntarily commit her son for treatment, which Shepherd’s family previously had done three times since November.

When Upper St. Clair police tried to take Shepherd into custody, he retreated into his house on Lamar Road.

As police tried to get inside, Shepherd “stuck a knife out” through plywood boards covering some of the windows and tried to cut them, authorities said.

At that time, the officers filed an aggravated assault charge against Shepherd.

They also called in a regional SWAT team, part of the South Hills Area Council of Governments, a nonprofit collaborative of 22 Pittsburgh-area municipalities. The specialized police unit is known as the Critical Incident Response Team.

At about 8:40 p.m., more than three hours after the specialized unit arrived, police said Shepherd came out of his house with a knife, walked toward the SWAT officers and refused commands.

Four officers opened fire.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Shepherd died outside his house at 8:42 p.m.

Police have released few specific details about the encounter, refusing to divulge how far from Shepherd the officers were, how fast he was moving and what he said.

They also have declined to answer questions about what kind of weapon Shepherd had or why they were unable to use less-than-lethal force.

Cellphone footage recorded by neighbors in the last moments of the five-hour police encounter and reviewed by TribLive revealed that officers fired at least a dozen shots.

Shepherd’s family said that he had no military training, didn’t own guns and did not have a criminal record or a history of violence.

Allegheny County Police detectives investigated the shooting and turned their findings over to Zappala’s office in late January, according to county police spokesman Jim Madalinsky.

Open-records requests

In January, TribLive submitted nine Right-To-Know requests about the shooting to Baldwin Borough, Bethel Park, Brentwood, Upper St. Clair and the South Hills Area Council of Governments.

TribLive sought from all five parties the names, rank and length of service of the officers who shot at Shepherd.

Every request was denied.

On March 6, TribLive appealed the denials to the Office of Open Records in the state capital.

The police departments, the municipalities and the coalition submitted position statements this week, explaining why they would not release the information.

In one, Arnold, the Bethel Park chief, said that naming the officers who fired at Shepherd “creates a substantial and demonstrable risk to their safety and the safety of their families.”

Maintaining the officers’ anonymity is important, Arnold added, “because criminals and criminal organizations specifically target law enforcement officers, particularly those involved in high-risk operations.”

Arnold said the anonymity also was essential because the Shepherd family’s “unsubstantiated allegations” about excessive force make it “dangerous to identify the CIRT officers who discharged their weapons.”

Baldwin, Bethel Park and Brentwood denied Right-to-Know requests for public documents or contracts related to the four officers.

The South Hills group that operates CIRT also denied requests for the officers’ names.

The council was founded in 1973 and serves more than 315,000 residents in an area of 223 square miles, according to its website.

On Feb. 27, Upper St. Clair’s open-records officer denied a request for audio recordings or transcripts of 911 calls made in the township on the day of the shooting.

Two days later, they denied the request for any policies about the township’s relationship with the Critical Incident Response Team.

Upper St. Clair police also declined to provide a list of their officers who are serving or have served on that team.

Shepherd’s sister, Upper St. Clair resident Micki Kippelen, previously said she has questions about the shooting.

The family has hired a private pathologist to conduct a second autopsy on Shepherd’s body — following the one performed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Kippelen declined Thursday to provide an update on the second autopsy.

Investigators have not confirmed which officer fired the fatal shot.