Federal lawsuit filed over deadly police shooting of man in Upper St. Clair
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A woman has filed a federal lawsuit over the shooting death of her son by police officers in the South Hills.
Her wrongful death suit says she called police to take her son, Christopher Shepherd, to a mental health hospital in January from the home along Lamar Road.
Police said that Shepherd wouldn't respond to them and threatened them with a knife.
SWAT officers from Bethel Park, Brentwood, and Baldwin eventually used tear gas to force Shepherd outside.
The lawsuit says that Shepherd was holding a knife as he ran away from officers when they shot him in the back eight times.
At the time, Allegheny County Police said that the officers fired when Shepherd continued to approach an officer.
"The subject suddenly came out of the garage and approached the SWAT officers," Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns said. "He refused their commands, continued to approach the officer with a knife in his hand and several of the officers ended up firing at the subject."
In the wake of his death, one of Shepherd's friends told KDKA that Shepherd was a kind and caring person and that he believes the police presence scared him in the state he was in and that he thinks he became paranoid.
