Police Fatally Shoot Perryopolis Man During Welfare Check
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PERRYOPOLIS (KDKA) -- State police fatally shot a man who was threatening to harm himself and refused to put down his weapon at his Perryopolis home Friday night.
Perryopolis Police were sent to a home on Constitution Street to check on the welfare of 47-year-old Garrett Hoose.
Police say Hoose was sending text messages to his family threatening to harm himself.
"[He was] having some mental problems, and his wife was trying to get him in the hospital," neighbor Sam Pidnjvich said. "That's what I was told. And he said, 'No, I don't want to, I'm not going to the hospital.' She was just trying to get him some help."
State police say Hoose was armed with a weapon when Perryopolis Police officers showed up at his home. After he ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon, an officer fired the fatal shot, fearing for his safety.
"Police have to do what they have to do, I guess," Pidnjvich said.
His neighbor remembers hearing sounds of gunfire and seeing a number of police cars outside the residence.
"He was thinking of suicide, and he was saying he wanted to do that, and then I guess that's when police more or less wanted to arrest him and take him in and get him some help," Pidnjvich said. "[He] had a weapon, so you know what that means…"
Hoose was a former Perryopolis Borough councilman. Last Wednesday, police were called to his home after he sent text messages threatening to harm himself. As a result, the nearby Frazier School District was put on lockdown.
State police and the Fayette County D.A. are investigating the shooting.
