Law enforcement officials react to active shooting situation in Garfield

PITTSBURGH — By nightfall Wednesday, the Garfield neighborhood remained a crime scene. State Police are now in charge of the investigation and say that work is only beginning.

Hundreds of gunshots rang out through the neighborhood on and off for several hours in broad daylight.

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What started as an eviction turned into a gun battle.

Ring doorbell camera showed sheriff’s deputies taking cover at a garage near the Broad Street home where the shooter, William Hardison Sr., barricaded himself.

“Once they made contact, obviously things changed dramatically and they were scrambling for cover,” said Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus. “They were fired upon. They returned fire.”

Sheriff Kraus said seven deputies showed up to serve that notice, more than normal, but he says they did not see this coming.

“We certainly had no information whatsoever that this individual was this dangerous, or that there were firearms in the house,” he said.

City SWAT was called in, along with county and state police, ATF and FBI.

The agencies used a Rook, which is a bulletproof shield, and three drones that police said the shooter all shot down.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto said nothing about the situation was normal.

“That coordinated effort saved many lives, many officers’ lives in a very tense and rapidly uncertain environment,” he said.

Now that the threat is over, the painstaking work begins of collecting all that evidence.

“I know the situation now is somewhat concluded but for us and our investigational team; our major case team; our forensic unit; our reconstruction analysis; our criminal investigation unit; their work is just beginning,” said State Trooper Rocco Gagliardi.

Investigators will eventually check homes for broken windows and other damage.

“Now we can go through and check all these residences for broken items, shot-up windows, you name it, we’re going to check it,” Gagliardi said.

Chief Scirotto said at the end of the day, the shooter’s death was not the outcome they wanted but he’s proud of the bravery of all the men and women.

“The patience and discipline to have an outcome like this where no officers were injured, no community members were injured, that shows the great restraint, the great training,” he said.

Investigators with the sheriff’s office said they now have to interview neighbors and speak with every officer involved in the incident about what they saw and how many rounds they might have fired. Gagliardi said that is going to take a long time, but all of it is crucial to the investigation.

On Thursday, a Pittsburgh Public Safety official told Channel 11 about 40 Pittsburgh police officers are on paid leave as protocol. The officers had to turn in the weapons that were fired. They will have to see a psychologist and then give an interview. They could be off for a week or so, according to the official.

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