Dozens of shots were fired, but no one was injured when a man accused of murder and kidnapping began shooting at FBI agents as they tried to arrest him in Verona on Tuesday, sparking a three-hour standoff that ended with his surrender.
Frank Perez Jr., 30, came out of the house in the 400 block of Center Avenue with his hands in the air about 5:45 p.m. and was taken to FBI headquarters in the South Side for questioning.
A woman and child who were sharing the home with Perez left before the standoff began, said Michael Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office.
"He is very, very dangerous. This man is a killer," FBI Special Agent Jeff Killeen said. "He has proven he thinks nothing of firing at law enforcement, and so this is clearly a very dangerous situation. He has weapons that can fire for miles."
Matt O'Donnell, a sophomore at Riverview High School in Oakmont, said he was walking home from school when he heard the gunshots.
"I was walking up the hill to my house and heard three shots and hit the ground as fast as I could," said O'Donnell, who was walking on Center Avenue when the gunfire began about 3 p.m. "I rolled behind a rock wall and when the shots stopped, I got up and ran back down the hill."
Rodriguez said he does not know what prompted Perez to begin shooting but said that as far as he knows, law enforcement officers did not return fire.
"We hope to learn more when we talk to him," Rodriguez said.
Dozens of SWAT team members and FBI agents in body armor swarmed the neighborhood. Pittsburgh police, the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, Allegheny County police, state police and the FBI were at the scene. Authorities evacuated nearby houses, and residents were told to leave.
"My 13-year-old son called me at work and said there were a lot of police there and gunshots," said Milette Storoz, who lives next door to the house where Perez was holed up.
"He asked me, 'What should I do?' I told him to lock up the house and take his (7-year-old) brother down to the basement. I called 911 and told them I had boys in my house in the basement. The FBI went into the basement and brought them out."
Perez was wanted in connection with a homicide in Whiting, Ind., a suburb of Chicago, and Mexican authorities were seeking him in connection with a kidnapping, Killeen said.
Whiting police Sgt. John Sotello said Perez -- known as "Pumpkin" -- is accused of shooting a former gang member in July 1999. The two got into an argument on a street corner about a girlfriend before Perez reportedly shot Jose Pena, Sotello said.
"He has been on the run ever since," the sergeant said.
It was not the first time Perez fired on officers. He shot at Highland, Ind., police and Drug Enforcement Agents during a traffic stop and chase in Highland on March 2, 2004, Highland police Detective Cmdr. Ralph Potesta said. Perez ditched his vehicle and escaped.
"Within a matter of a minute, it turned into a shooting," Potesta said. "We learned by talking to informants and family members that he's just a nut. He doesn't care. He'll shoot at anybody."
Perez has had connections to the Pittsburgh area for years, but agents narrowed down his location in the past week, Killeen said.
Agents confronted him when they knew he was home alone. Perez responded by firing out the front and back of the home, Killeen said. He said Perez was armed with at least one rifle and possibly handguns.
Cydney DeDominicis, who lives one block away, said that when she saw SWAT officers arrive, "at first nobody really said anything to us. And then they started to scream and told us we had to move, we had to leave and that we weren't safe."
Pat Caldwell, 61, owner of Patsy's Market across the street from the scene, said there was no warning that there was a problem until he heard "quite a few gunshots going back and forth."
"My wife, Jonette, went to the front and looked outside then put the 'closed' sign up and turned off the lights," he said.
Tom Gravelle watched from his house across the street.
"I heard some shots fired. I think a bullet went through my window," he said. "I heard them ask him to surrender. It's a scary situation."
Verner Elementary School, located a block from the house, was on lockdown until about 5 p.m., when police allowed parents to pick up their children.
The two-story Center Avenue structure holds two rental units, one on each floor. A rental agent for the property said a woman in her 20s rented the upstairs apartment this summer.
"There's been a dude in there," said agent Paul Quinn. "But there are kids there, too."
Victoria Goldberg works on Allegheny River Boulevard.
"I've seen him around town. We've exchanged small talk just like you do when you see people you recognize from your town," she said. "He was usually with a woman and a small child. He seemed nice, you know. Normal. Not like somebody who would do this."
