Full Notification

A wanted man apparently ambushed and killed Lower Burrell Police Patrolman Derek Kotecki at the city`s Dairy Queen restaurant Wednesday evening.

FILE PHOTO:
(Lower Burrell Police Officer Derek Kotecki puts his drug dog, Benny, through a demonstration to find marijuana hidden in a can during a drug awareness program at Burrell High School.)

Kotecki, an 18-year veteran of the force, was shot by fugitive Charles A. Post, 33, of Lower Burrell. Post also is dead. It could not be determined if other officers shot Post to death or if he committed suicide and officials at the scene declined to say.

Kotecki, 40, was Lower Burrell`s K-9 officer.

"He was a dedicated officer," said city Councilman Joe Grillo. "He was a good father and husband … a good family man."

Shortly after the 7 p.m. shooting, the area around Dairy Queen on Greensburg Roadwas taped off. The deceased officer`s vehicle was in parking lot with the driver`s door open, his sheet-covered body on the asphalt. There were dozens of police officers at the scene, as well as Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck. Many officers were hugging each other and several were in tears.

Alicia Heymers, co-owner of New Ken Auto-Motive, located directly across the road from the Dairy Queen, said she was cleaning in her business when she heard a commotion outside.

"I heard banging and yelling," Heymers said.

She exited the business and saw several police officers with their weapons drawn, firing toward a wooded area behind the restaurant.

There were a lot of shots, at least six or eight," Heymer said. "I thought (they were shooting at) a bear until I heard them yelling, ‘Get down, get down!`"

Post, a member of Burrell High School class of 1996, has been the subject of a manhunt since October 2 when he fired multiple gunshots at his boss outside of the Clarion Hotel in New Kensington.

In that incident, Terry Janosky, 44, of New Kensington, said he called Post that Sunday afternoon and Post began screaming at him. Janosky said he went to the Clarion to meet Post, but when he pulled up in his truck, the man opened fire on him.

There were three bullet holes on the driver's side of Janosky's truck from a large caliber handgun, including one right above the driver's side window. Police recovered 12 shell casings at the scene.