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City Church Steps Up for Wounded Officer
By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
April 26, 2023
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre embraces McKeesport police Officer Charles Thomas on Tuesday at the city’s Public Safety Building. (Special to Tube City Almanac)
A Downtown church on Tuesday presented a city police officer who is recovering from wounds sustained during a shooting with more than $300 in gift cards in honor of his service.
The gift to McKeesport police Officer Charles Thomas Jr. was the idea of Jo Pratt of White Oak, a parishioner at St. Stephen Episcopal Church, Walnut Street, and was quickly adopted by other members of the congregation, who contributed to the collection.
“We felt it was really, really necessary, because our church is in the community, and we realize the risk our police officers take with their lives, and that the compensation they receive does not in any way compare,” Pratt said. “We wanted (Thomas) to get a night out and to let all of our police know that we care, and that they are in our constant thoughts and prayers.”
McKeesport assistant police chief Mark Steele, Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre of St. Stephen Episcopal Church, McKeesport police Officer Charles Thomas, St. Stephen parishioners Jo Pratt of White Oak and Ethel Balas of McKeesport, McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer, and McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko. (Special to Tube City Almanac)
Thomas, a six-year veteran of the McKeesport police, was wounded Feb. 6 while he and fellow Officer Sean Sluganski, 32, responded to a domestic dispute on Wilson Street in the Grandview section of the city.
Johnathan J. Morris, 31, of McKeesport is accused of shooting both officers as they approached him on Grandview Avenue. Sluganski died of his injuries.
Morris is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, assault on a law-enforcement officer and attempted murder of a law-enforcement officer in the first degree. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. has said he will seek the death penalty if Morris is convicted.
Pratt said Sluganski’s death took her back to the afternoon of Nov. 10, 1993, when McKeesport police Officer Frank Miller Jr. was shot and killed. Until Sluganski’s murder, Miller was the last city police officer to die in the line of duty.
Pratt was working at McKeesport Hospital when Miller was brought into the emergency room that day.
“This triggered a lot of terrible memories for me,” she said.
Pratt said she has had occasion to call McKeesport police several times over the years, “and they've always been there, and they’re always there with grace.”
Thomas, who is still undergoing treatment for his injuries, said he was grateful for the outpouring of support and that he is taking everything “one day at a time.”
McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer said the department also is working on recovering from Sluganski’s loss.
“Every bit of support from the community is like another step to help with the healing,” Alfer said. “The community support, the church support, has been unbelieveable. It’s good to feel wanted.”
Originally published April 26, 2023.
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