Pittsburgh police kill man during standoff in Allentown

Pittsburgh police fatally shot a 45-year-old man early Friday morning after he fired at police during a standoff along East Warrington Avenue in the city’s Allentown neighborhood, Allegheny County Police said.

The victim was identified as Mark Coleman by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner Office.

Allegheny County Police homicide detectives are investigating the shooting that occurred at about 6 a.m. on the seventh floor inside the Richard S. Caliguiri Allentown Plaza apartment building in the 800 block of East Warrington Avenue. Coleman was shot after he fired at Pittsburgh police, investigators said.

The shooting stemmed from an incident Christmas Eve when Pittsburgh police responded to reports of a man with a gun in the 800 block of East Warrington Avenue.

Officers found the man, who went into an apartment building. It was unclear why officers did not arrest him at the time. County police said that Coleman had felony convictions that prohibited him from possessing a gun.

Pittsburgh police got a search warrant for the man and an apartment on East Warrington.

When a Pittsburgh SWAT team tried to serve the warrant Friday morning, the man fired at officers, according to county police. Police returned fire, and the man barricaded himself inside the building, county police said.

The county said Pittsburgh police fired again.

County police provided sparse details about the encounter, saying only that “during the ensuing standoff, a second officer-involved shooting occurred and the male was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit brought a bus to keep people warm who had to evacuate the building. The bus arrived around 7 a.m. and offered shelter for about 30 or 40 people until it left around noon, said Adam Brandolph, a transit agency spokesperson.

Anyone with information concerning the incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.