City of Pittsburgh to assist homeowners with damages after Garfield standoff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - While no one in the community was hurt, there is a lot of damage in Garfield to homes and cars following an hours-long standoff and shootout on Wednesday.
The question now is: who pays for it?
The exchange of gunfire between police and alleged Garfield standoff suspect Bill Hardison resulted in "thousands" of rounds fired. Many of them hit and did costly damage to cars and homes close to where Hardison was held up.
If you think your homeowner's policy is guaranteed to cover these kinds of repairs, think again.
According to Jeffrey Redfern of the Institute for Justice, "For most Americans, it's the biggest asset they own, and there's not really a good way to protect it from something like this."
Meanwhile, according to the Insurance Information Institute, some homeowners' insurance companies will go after the policy of the homeowner the police were trying to capture.
But if that policy is lapsed or that individual is dead?
"Generally, the homeowner is going to be out of luck," he added.
So, what is the next step? Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey addressed that exact issue on Thursday.
"We're urging citizens to contact their insurance carriers, and the city will assist you in the deductible. If you do not have insurance, the city will cover the damage in full," Gainey said.
To be clear, if you have insurance, you are not getting the double recovery, your insurance company would be getting compensated from the city.
If your home was damaged in the incident, you are advised to seek more information by using a claim form.
The claim form can be found right here.