LOWER BURRELL (KDKA) — When he was shot, Officer Derek Kotecki was trying to apprehend 33-year-old Charles Post.

Police had been looking for Post since October 2, when he allegedly opened fire on his boss outside a hotel.

KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin reports that friends of Post say he talked about a so-called “hit list” over the last few weeks.

He told friends he was going to kill several people, including police officers and then himself.

“I have bullets left. He knew he was going to go to jail for the rest of his life and that he was gonna take people with him and save the last one for himself,” a friend of Post told KDKA-TV.

The haunted, crazed message friends of Charles Post say he was spreading around town in the last few weeks.

“He knew he was going to jail for a long time and that he wasn’t going to go down alone – that he was going to take other people with him,” the friend said.

A woman who has known Post since high school was so concerned she kept her own children inside.

“They go out with cellphones, with cash,” she said. “We know Charlie, we knew that if he was out there and he was starting to withdraw from drugs and getting more desperate that he would have grabbed one of the kids.”

She says Post talked about his drug addiction.

“Talked really profoundly about how his life spiraled due to drugs, starting with oxycodone leading into heroin,” she said.

“Because you saw a guy that looked extremely sad and now I see the pictures on the news and it’s madness,” she continued. “He looks absolutely insane.”

She said Post belonged in prison.

“He doesn’t get put away because I think the system looks at drug addicts like people that are killing themselves – that nobody else gets hurt,” she said.

“And I hope that this is a lesson in it that it’s usually the people that are doing nothing besides their job like Derek that get hurt by drugs. It is not a victimless crime.”

KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin reports Post had a 17-year criminal history, including 50 different incidents with 10 police departments.

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
More Westmoreland County News