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Coroner: W. Pa. cop killer fatally shot himself

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. — A coroner says a man who fatally shot a western Pennsylvania police officer last fall fatally shot himself before he was hit by two shots fired by another officer who responded to the scene.

Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth Bacha says 33-year-old Charles Post shot himself in the head but remained in a squatted position with his gun still clenched in his hand when New Kensington police Sgt. John Olearchick fired two shots moments later, hitting Post in the chest and upper abdomen.

The coroner says those gunshots could have killed Post had he not died instantly from his self-inflicted wound.

Post drew police fire moments after he fatally shot Lower Burrell police Officer Derek Kotecki, who had come to a Dairy Queen to arrest Post Oct. 12 for another shooting 10 days earlier.

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