City police chief defends officers' decision to fire

Correction: Pittsburgh police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. was incorrectly quoted about the number of shots fired by Vincent Napper, the slain man. Deputy Chief William Mullen had said previously Napper fired four to seven shots at the officers. Bryan Campbell is the lawyer for Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1. The distance police chased Napper's car was nearly two miles.

The names of three Pittsburgh police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Hill District man were released Thursday by Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr.

Zone 5 Patrolmen Charles Lukitsch, Philip Lerza and Shawn Dady were back on active duty yesterday after a shootout last Friday with Vincent Napper, 28, who died after opening fire on the officers in Lincoln-Lemington, McNeilly said.

The three needed to pass examinations by a police certified psychologist, police said.

Napper, who suffered 20 bullet wounds, fired between four and seven shots at the officers using a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun that was reported stolen from Carrick in 1999, Deputy Chief William Mullen said.

Lukitsch joined the force in 1993 and Lerza in 2001. Dady had joined in January after transferring from the University of Pittsburgh police force, where he served two years as a patrolman.

McNeilly defended the officers, saying they had just seconds to react.

In this case, McNeilly said, the "deadly use of force by officers is expected. We train our officers to go home at the end of the night."

Bryan Campbell is the lawyer for Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, said the three officers are model workers who reacted properly.

The officers, whose ages were withheld, fired a total of 27 shots, police said.

Napper was driving his wife's Chevrolet Monte Carlo when a police officer saw it go through a stop sign at the intersection of Shetland Street and Larimer Avenue in Homewood.

Police chased the car for 2 miles until it crashed into a sport utility vehicle near the intersection of East Lemington and Columbia avenues. Napper, wearing a bulletproof vest, opened fire on the officers as they closed in on him, McNeilly said.

Two of the shots he fired hit a patrol car and narrowly missed a bystander, McNeilly said.

Police found a box of surgical gloves and a ski mask in the car, but have not been able to explain the items' significance. They also can't explain why Napper called his wife minutes before the shootout to tell her that the Monte Carlo had been stolen.

"A lot of people have a lot of questions," said McNeilly, who referred many of those questions to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

Attempts to reach Zappala yesterday were unsuccessful.

Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht said he intends to conduct an open inquest into Napper's death at a time when he and Zappala are sparring over Wecht's authority to conduct such public fact-finding hearings.