December 23, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
The search continues for a man accused of shooting a McKeesport police officer on Sunday afternoon.
On Wednesday, a federal agency and a Pittsburgh-area business owner both announced that they would offer rewards for information leading to the apprehension of Koby Lee Francis, 22, of McKeesport.
Francis is accused of shooting city police Officer Gerasimos “Jerry” Athans, 32, on Fourth Avenue outside the Public Safety Building and then fleeing the scene, still handcuffed from an earlier arrest.
He has been charged by Allegheny County police with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, escape, flight to avoid apprehension and violating the uniform firearms act.
Police have urged Francis to surrender himself to authorities.
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December 23, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Residents and some civil-rights groups have criticized checkpoints and searches that were conducted Sunday night in the wake of the shooting of a McKeesport police officer.
But Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said this week that officers wanted to get an armed and dangerous suspect off of the streets as quickly as possible before any additional violence took place.
“We wanted it to end right here,” McDonough said at a press conference Monday. “We want this to be the last harm inflicted by that individual ... that’s our primary concern.”
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December 21, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
McKeesport police Officer Jerry Athans, 32, prepares to return fire Sunday after being shot three times by a suspect identified as Koby Lee Francis, 22. Francis is charged by Allegheny County police with attempted homicide. (Submitted photo via Allegheny County police)
Holiday decorations in Kennedy Park on Lysle Boulevard spell out the words, “PEACE ON EARTH.”
The scene captured by surveillance cameras on Sunday afternoon along Fourth Avenue — just behind those words — is anything but peaceful.
Footage released by Allegheny County police on Monday shows a suspect identified as Koby Lee Francis, 22, of McKeesport, firing several shots at city police Officer Gerasimos “Jerry” Athans, 32, from the back seat of a McKeesport police cruiser.
Athans takes cover at the front of the car, turns, aims and returns fire as Francis — still handcuffed from his arrest a few minutes earlier — flees on foot. The entire sequence plays out in about 20 seconds.
“We strongly urge members of the community who can see that this was an egregious violation to cooperate with our investigation and provide us with his whereabouts,” said county police Superintendent Coleman McDonough at a press conference Monday.
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December 20, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Koby Lee Francis, 22, is wanted by Allegheny County police in connection with the shooting of a McKeesport police officer on Sunday outside the Public Safety Building. (Courtesy Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office)
A suspect who was arrested Sunday afternoon for violating a protection-from-abuse order shot a McKeesport police officer outside of the Public Safety Building, sparking a massive lockdown and search.
The 32-year-old officer, whose name has not been officially released, was in critical but stable condition at UPMC Presbyterian hospital, Oakland, Sunday night.
The suspect, identified by police as Koby Lee Francis, 22, of the city is wanted by Allegheny County police on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, escape, flight to avoid apprehension, and violating the uniform firearms act.
The incident happened just after 4 p.m. outside the Fourth Avenue entrance to the police station. A dragnet fell over the Downtown area and Third Ward following the shooting, as police from multiple jurisdictions — including local, county and state agencies and federal agents — cordoned off a large section of the city.
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December 17, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, North Versailles Twp. News
A North Versailles Twp. man was killed when he was struck by a snow plow near his home in the Arlington section of the township, Allegheny County police said.
John A. Vichie, 63, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office said.
County police said that Vichie was walking with a snow blower in the 100 block of Union Avenue when he was struck by a township public works truck that was backing up the street.
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December 07, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News
• Arrest records published here were provided by the McKeesport Police Department.
• Not all arrest records are published.
• An arrest does not mean the person identified has been convicted of a crime.
• All people arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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December 06, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, Crime and Police News
The McKeesport police annual fund drive is underway.
A spokesman said the donations are used to purchase non-budgeted items and equipment used by officers while serving McKeesport and Dravosburg, which is patrolled by city police under a contract with the borough.
Donations are strictly voluntary, a spokesman said.
“The items purchased from these donations are used on a daily basis by our police department,” he said. “Several of these items would not have been purchased if it were not for the generosity of the local businesses and private citizens of both McKeesport and Dravosburg.”
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November 20, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKeesport woman and her two children escaped serious injury after a teen-ager shot at their car on Market Street, city police said.
The suspect, Michael Singleton, 18, of McKeesport, thought he was shooting at one of his rivals, according to a police report.
Singleton is suspected of being in a street gang, police said. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond pending formal arraignment Jan. 8 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
According to a report, the victim stopped for a stop sign at the intersection of Market Street and 13th Avenue at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 25 when she heard gun shots, and the back window of her car shattered.
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November 20, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKees Rocks man is being held in the Allegheny County Jail after McKeesport police said he fired a shot into the floor of his girlfriend’s Dravosburg apartment and threatened to kill her.
Cody W. Pehm, 25, is charged with recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, simple assault and possession of a controlled substance following the incident Monday night.
Magisterial District Judge James A. Motznik ordered Pehm held without bond pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 3 before Magisterial District Judge Richard D. Olasz Jr.
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