FBI agent killed in Indiana Township raid
An FBI agent was fatally shot this morning during a drug raid at a home in Indiana Township. Agent Samuel Hicks, 33, was serving a search warrant about 6 a.m. at a two-story, brick-and-siding home on Woods Run Road.
The homeowners, Robert and Christina Korbe, have been taken into custody in connection with the incident, officials said.
Christina Korbe's attorney, Sumner Parker, said he expects her to be charged with homicide for shooting Hicks. She was interrogated by detectives today and her clothes were submitted to the Allegheny County crime lab, Parker said "I don't believe that (Robert Korbe) is going to be charged with any involvement in this homicide," Parker said.
He would not say if Christina Korbe fired the fatal shots, but did say that she was upstairs when police knocked.
"I don't know what police said or did. I wasn't there," Parker said. "What's the first thing you hear in the morning when it sounds like someone is banging down your door?"
When leaving Allegheny County police headquarters in Point Breeze this afternoon, Robert Korbe denied any involvement in the shooting.
"I didn't do it. They shot their own guy," Robert Korbe, 39, said. Investigators refuted that.
"Based on the information we have right now, every indication is that no shot was fired by law enforcement at the crime scene. The investigation is continuing," said Special Agent William Crowley, a spokesman for the FBI in Pittsburgh.
Crowley and Michael A. Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh Field Office, declined to discuss any further details of the shooting or investigation.
Hicks was part of a task force serving warrants this morning, Rodriguez said. The FBI was involved with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and numerous local and state law enforcement officers executing federal search warrants associated with a drug distribution ring operating throughout the greater Pittsburgh area, he said. Thirty-five people were charged in connection with the drug ring. Many of them were making initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa P. Lenihan on various charges.
Hicks graduated from Southmoreland High School in Alverton and was a chemistry and biology major at the University of Pittsburgh -Johnstown. He joined the FBI in March 2007 and was assigned to the Pittsburgh office in August 2007. Before joining the FBI, Hicks was a Baltimore police officer, Rodriguez said. He also was a school teacher in Maryland.
Hicks died at UPMC St. Margaret hospital, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office. He leaves behind a wife, Brooke, and a 3-year-old son.
"Special Agent Hicks made the ultimate sacrifice that any law enforcement officer makes for his country," Rodriguez said. "He served with honor and bravery and will be greatly missed by his colleagues here in Pittsburgh and throughout the FBI. We are all grieving with this loss and Sam's memory will not be forgotten."
Detective Donny Moses of the Baltimore City Police Department said Hicks joined that department in June 2002 and served until February of 2007. By the end of his career there, Hicks was a member of the Organized Crime Division, which conducts narcotics investigations, Moses said.
State police Cpl. Joseph Pokorny was the last officer killed in the line of duty in Allegheny County.
Pokorny, 45, of Moon died Dec. 12, 2005, outside the ExtendedStay America hotel in Carnegie. Pokorny was attempting to pull over a motorist for speeding on the Parkway West.
"Often times it is difficult for us to understand the level of seriousness and danger that the law enforcement fraternity faces on a daily basis until such time as a member of that fraternity gives up their life in the performance of their duties," District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said in a statement. "What happened earlier today is a brutally stark reminder of the danger that law enforcement deals with every day and of the select group of people in our community who possess disdain for the law and little respect for the value of a human life."
Robert Korbe was arrested in May on multiple charges including aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and drug possession, court records show. He was freed from jail after he posted a $25,000 bond. He was due in court tomorrow for his formal arraignment on those charges.
-- Staff writers Jill King Greenwood, Chuck Biedka, Adam Brandolph, Jason Cato, Matthew Santoni and Joe Appel contributed to this report.
