Body cam footage shows timeline before, after shooting death of Brackenridge Chief Justin McIntire
By: The Allegheny County District Attorney provided more details Friday on the events that led to the fatal shooing of Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire last month.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala laid out an extensive and detailed timeline of the events leading up to the Jan. 2 killing of the Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire and to the fatal police shooting of the man who killed the chief, Aaron Lamont Swan Jr. Swan Jr. was wanted on outstanding warrants and was also sought by police after he was identified as the driver of a car that had been speeding at 90 miles per hour on New Year's Day.
"Chief Mcintire was ambushed and murdered," the district attorney said.
Zappala released an image from a camera on McIntire's taser, which the D.A. said shows the last thing McIntire saw before he was killed. The image shows Swan Jr. the instant before Swan Jr. opened fire, hitting McIntire four times.
McIntire had drawn his taser, not his gun, before he lost his life in the line of duty.
"I think he demonstrated everything that you want a police officer to do. And he had no intention of taking life. That's why everybody in the community loved him," Zappala said.
The district attorney also released body cam video of Tarentum police Officer Jordan Schrecengost, who was wounded by Swan Jr. at a nearby location shortly after McIntire was killed.
Schrecengost is heard on the video calling out, "I'm hit."
Zappala also showed Pittsburgh police body cam video documenting Swan Jr. firing on them with a modified automatic weapon.
Swan Jr. was shot and killed by city police after he opened fire on the city officers.
"As to the death of Mr. Swan, there's overwhelming evidence of justification for the officers to do what they did," Zappala said. "He had murdered a police officer, shot another police officer, put a gun in a woman's face, carjacked that person, robbed and carjacked that person. That information was all known to the Pittsburgh police."
"There's too much violence in the community. If you're going to direct violence at a police officer, these are ladies and gentlemen who have been trained to return deadly force with deadly force. I'm just afraid with the escalation of violence, and they're directing it toward the police. This stuff has to stop because these guys are prepared to address that," Zappala said.
In part, she wrote, "Justin died doing what he loved, and I know if he could do it over again he would, just to protect us and his town, because that is how selfless of a man he was. He will always be our hero."