Evicted Resident In Police Custody After Friendship Standoff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Hundreds of elementary school students in Pittsburgh's Friendship neighborhood couldn't leave school for hours on Thursday because of a man nearby armed with a shotgun.
"There were 30 to 40 parents outside, a number of other parents in church across the street and people waiting in cars really not knowing what was going on," said Arif Jamal, the father of one of the students.
Pittsburgh Montessori was put on lockdown because of what was happening one street over.
The SWAT team was called after police say 61-year-old Charles Rogers refused to leave the third-floor apartment in the 300-block of South Fairmount Street, from which he was being evicted.
He had a shotgun and said he would use it, according to Pittsburgh Police spokeswoman Sonya Toler.
Police fired numerous OC gas canisters into the apartment, and eventually even fired two rubber bullets at him to coax him down a back fire escape, according to Toler.
"It took a lot of coaxing to get him to get out of the apartment he was in," said Toler. "It was a family-owned property, and he did not want to lose the home that he's been in for a vast majority of his life."
Rogers was taken to UPMC Mercy to be checked out and then will be taken to jail.
Police say Rogers will face charges of aggravated assault, criminal trespass, possession of an instrument of crime, terroristic threats and risking a catastrophe.
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