Officer Killed In Lower Burrell Shooting, Suspected Gunman Dead
LOWER BURRELL (KDKA) -- A police officer was killed in a shooting in Lower Burrell.
This happened at about 7 p.m. outside the Dairy Queen in the 300-block of Greensburg Road.
Officer Derek Kotecki was a K-9 officer with the Lower Burrell Police Department.
"This is a horrible tragedy," Ronald Hopkins, retired Arnold Police Chief, said. "I just found out just a short time ago. I'm down here just to support the Lower Burrell police in their time of need."
Police had been looking for 33-year-old Charlie Post since a shooting incident earlier this month outside the Clarion Hotel in New Kensington.
Post was at the Dairy Queen with the intention of surrendering, according to his brother.
Post was wanted on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault after allegedly firing about a dozen shots at his former boss.
Sources say when police showed up at the Dairy Queen Wednesday evening, the suspect pulled out a gun and allegedly killed Kotecki.
KDKA's Ralph Iannotti reports Post then shot himself.
"He did his job very well," Joseph Grillo, a Lower Burrell councilman, said of the fallen officer. "It's tough to think these guys are out serving and protecting and we take that for granted."
Allegheny County Police are there to help process the crime scene.
"This is going to be a long evening for us," Dan Stevens, with Westmoreland County Emergency Management, said.
"When you're dealing with a shooting, you want to make sure you do everything properly and we don't want to release any information before it should be released and we want to make sure the information that you get is not hearsay information."
Stay with KDKA for the latest developments.
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