Editorial: Allegheny County DA Zappala needs to break his silence in Upper St. Clair man’s officer-involved shooting
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There are times that it makes sense for prosecutors to be guarded about what they disclose and how they disclose it.
A victim’s name may not be released until the family has been notified. That delay is understandable. A key detail of a crime might be kept back as the investigation is ongoing. Again, that might make sense.
But there are times tight lips simply make no sense.
On Jan. 7, Christopher Shepherd, 48, was shot by police officers from Baldwin Borough, Bethel Park and Brentwood. He was mentally ill and holding a knife when he approached the officers outside his Upper St. Clair home. More than three hours after police arrived on the scene with an order to commit the man for psychiatric care, he was dead.
This kind of interaction is hard to predict. A February 2023 incident with a man experiencing a PTSD episode ended in the death of McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski. A machete-wielding man in July 2023 was shot and tased by police in Ligonier Township.
But more than two months after Shepherd’s shooting, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office has yet to comment on whether it was justified. Police officers have.
Signed statements from the chiefs of the three departments involved were submitted to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records in response to a case involving TribLive. They agreed District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. “has determined that the police were justified in their use of force against Mr. Shepherd because he had threatened police with serious bodily harm.”
Even after those statements were released, Zappala’s office declined to confirm or deny the decision.
Why?
If there is an investigation into the officers’ actions, that should be known. It could be a reassuring move for the family and a positive move for police if it were announced that it was being probed. If there is not an investigation, the police chiefs deserve to be backed up by the weight of the DA’s authority.
This is the same unforced error of veiled information seen in Westmoreland County, where District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli is trying to lock down body camera footage release by individual departments. Coincidentally, that move comes after the Ligonier shooting, where the cameras documented the actions ultimately deemed justified.
If Zappala doesn’t want to talk about the Shepherd case, maybe he could take a page from his 2023 playbook and release a slick video detailing the decision. Or maybe that’s only something done during election years.
There are times for prosecutors to remain quiet. Doing so in this case is unfair to the victim, the family, the officers and the people.