On May 11, two Millcreek Township police officers went to a large apartment complex near Peach Street to look into reports of a man breaking car windows with tools. They found the suspect in a parking lot.
Millcreek Police Chief Carter Mook said the man walked up to the police and threw a hammer at them.
He said that the man then showed off another weapon.
Mook says that a Taser was used on the man as he kept moving towards the police officers, but for some reason it didn’t work to stop him.
After this, one of the cops shot and killed the man, according to the news.
The Pennsylvania State Police kept looking into what happened when 36-year-old Patrick J. Kanonczyk was shot and killed in the 1600 block of Treetop Drive in The Reserve at Millcreek, an apartment complex off of Kuntz Road, on May 13. As of now, the two Millcreek police officers who were involved in the incident have not been named. They are on administrative leave while the probe continues.
Mook said that administrative leave isn’t meant to be a punishment; it’s meant to give cops time to think about what happened and get their minds back on track before going back to work.
Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said on May 13 that Kanonczyk died of gunshot wounds after an autopsy the previous afternoon. He found that Kanonczyk had been killed by another person. Cook said he couldn’t say anything else because the case is still being looked into. This included how many times Kanonczyk was shot and where on his body he was hit.
The police said earlier that Kanonczyk was shot sometime after they were called to Treetop Drive on May 11 at 7:18 p.m. to look into reports of a guy breaking car windows with hammers. Police said that many people called 911 to report the man.
Lt. Mary Gausman, who is in charge of the crime section for state police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township, told the Erie Times-News on May 12 that people who lived in the apartment complex said the man, who Cook said lived there, had tools and was breaking windows out of cars. Gausman says Kanonczyk reportedly threw a hammer at a resident who confronted him from her apartment balcony, breaking a window in another apartment in the process. He also reportedly threw a hammer at other people in the complex who challenged him.
Mook said the man still had a hammer on him when Millcreek police came and confronted him. The man then threw the hammer at the police. Mook said the man then showed a “weapon,” but he wouldn’t say what kind of weapon it was.
There has also been no word from the state police about whether Kanonczyk had any other weapons besides tools.
Authorities said that after the shooting, cops tried to give Kanonczyk first aid but eventually found that he was dead. At 8:24 p.m. on May 11, the Erie County Coroner’s Office said he was dead at the scene.
There were no reports of any other accidents in the accident.
Mook said that footage from the officers’ body cameras had been given to the state police to look at as part of their probe. He said that other camera footage will be looked at as part of the investigation.
The killing will be looked into by state police, and then the reports will be sent to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office to be looked over. On May 13, no one knew when the investigation by the state police would be over.