PITTSBURGH,None — The personal vehicle of a Pittsburgh police officer -- the third shot to death after a 2009 domestic dispute call -- was hit by 23 gunshots, according to a crime scene expert who spent hours Wednesday describing dozens of spent AK-47, .357 Magnum and 12-gauge shotgun shells police say were fired by the man on trial in the killings.
City police Detective Blase Kraeer showed the jury photographs and brown paper bags of evidence he gathered from the home of the suspect, Richard Poplawski, 24.
Allegheny County prosecutors contend Poplawski shot the officers and then engaged in a gun battle with dozens more after his mother called 911 to report an argument with him on April 4, 2009. She was reportedly upset that his puppies had urinated on a floor and called police when the argument escalated about 7 a.m. that day.
AUDIO: Poplawski 911 Call (Warning: Graphic Language) UPDATES: WPXI's Live Courtroom Updates SLIDESHOW: Courtroom Sketches; Evidence Photos
She told the dispatcher that her son had legal weapons but none that were "in play" in the dispute, Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli has said.
Knowing police were coming, Tranquilli contends, Poplawski put on a bulletproof vest and readied his weapons, shooting Officer Paul Sciullo II, 36, in the head with the shotgun without warning as he got to the front door. Officer Stephen Mayhle, 29, was shot next, but not before he ran past Sciullo's body and into the house where he engaged in a brief, but intense, gun battle with Poplawski.
Kraeer said he also retrieved a slug embedded in the left front of Poplawski's vest -- and also testified to finding an apparent bullet hole in roughly the same location of a bloody Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jersey prosecutors believe Poplawski was wearing over the vest. Kraeer also showed the jury a police photo of Poplawski taken three days later that showed the faint remnant of a bruise underneath his left nipple, which prosecutors believe resulted from the shot Mayhle fired into the vest.
Prosecutors believe Mayhle retreated outside, likely after Poplawski grabbed the AK-47 assault rifle, and was shot on the front sidewalk.
The third officer killed was off duty at the time. Eric Kelly, 41 had just returned home from an overnight shift when he drove to Poplawski's house two blocks away after hearing radio calls about the downed officers. Tranquilli has said the evidence will show Kelly was shot when he pulled up in front of Poplawski's house before he could even exit his vehicle, and Kraeer showed the jury a photo of Kelly's bullet-riddled white Chevy Trailblazer.
Kraeer said Poplawski was prepared for a shootout, based on hundreds of rounds police found for the revolver and the assault rifle. Police also found dozens of spent shells from both weapons, as well as the shotgun, littering the house, especially near a living room picture window and a front bedroom window where, authorities contend, Poplawski continued to fire at officers who arrived after the fatal shootings. Poplawski suffered a lower leg wound -- believed to have been inflicted by a police sniper who fired through the bedroom wall -- and surrendered about 10:45 a.m. after first calling 911 to beg for medical assistance and being transferred to a police negotiator.
Prosecutors want the jury to convict Poplawski of first-degree murder. If that happens, the jury will hear additional testimony before determining whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without parole.
Public defender Lisa Middleman has argued the physical evidence and some witnesses don't support the police version of the shooting, but she has yet to cite specifics. She suggested officers who arrested Poplawski might have disturbed the crime scene, noting while cross-examining Kraeer that an armored SWAT vehicle drove through a puddle of Mayhle's blood on the front sidewalk.
She also got Kraeer to acknowledge finding about 200 spent shells from shots police fired outside into Poplawski's home, in an apparent effort to suggest an overzealous response by police who had, nonetheless, negotiated with Poplawski for nearly an hour before taking him alive.
Dozens of evidence photos were shown to the jury on Wednesday, including some graphic images of where prosecutors said Sciullo, Mayhle and Kelly were shot to death.
Kraeer, an expert in crime scene investigation, testified that the massive amount of gunfire at the scene prevented the full collection of bullet fragments, Channel 11 News reporter Alan Jennings said.
Tranquilli claimed that a close-range gun battle between Poplawski and Mayhle must have occurred before Mayhle was killed because shell casings from Mayhle's .40-caliber handgun were found inside a hallway of the Poplawski house.
The prosecution showed several photographs of the hallway, which was littered with shell casings.
Investigators said long casings from a high-powered rifle were also found in the hallway, indicating a firefight between Mayhle and Poplawski.
According to the prosecution, Mayhle arrived at the Poplawski house to find Scuillo dead at the front door of the home and immediately charged into the house to confront Poplawski.
Kraeer said there was so much evidence that the mobile crime unit ran out of placards to mark it and began using chalk to circle and number everything.
"There was such a massive amount of bullets fired that we couldn't collect them all," Kraeer said.
To support that testimony, more photographs were shown to the jury displaying bullet casings outside of the home.
The prosecution also showed photos of copper-jacketed fragments found on neighbors' porches, and bullet holes in exterior and foundation walls. Jurors also got to see pictures of Kelly's service weapon and police radio in the street where he died.
One graphic image showed a section of concrete that had been riddled with bullet holes. Kraeer said that's where Mayhle was killed.
Testimony also revealed that the letters 'C U C K I' were written in blood on a bedroom wall. Police said they did not know the meaning of the letters.
Previous Stories: June 22, 2011: Poplawski 911 Call: 'I Don't Want To End Any More Officers' Lives' June 21, 2011: Teen Says Poplawski Told Him 'I Shot 3 Cops' June 21, 2011: Injured Officer Eric Kelly: 'Tell My Wife, Kids I Love Them' June 21, 2011: Poplawski Trial Day 2: WPXI's Courtroom Updates June 21, 2011: Teen Says Poplawski Told Him 'I Shot 3 Cops'
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