Police shoot, kill man

MOCANAQUA — State police shot and killed a man who was swinging a garden rake at them while his horrified wife or girlfriend and neighbors watched, witnesses said.

Life Flight was called to help the man neighbors identified as Edward Vega, of 121 Italy St., after he was shot in the chest around 6 p.m. But the Life Flight doctor declared him dead, and the helicopter took off without him, said Dr. George Hudock Jr., county coroner.

A pool of blood and the garden rake remained in the middle of the road. State police strung crime-scene tape to block the street. A forensics team arrived on the scene, and a trooper began interviewing neighbors. The road was still closed off at 9:30 p.m.

It's unclear how the incident began. Channel 28 reported that state police said Vega and a woman who lived in the house with him had been fighting. The woman reportedly called police and said Vega was violating a protection from abuse order.

Neighbors, who said they feared to give their names or get involved, said they came out of their homes to see the man they knew as Ed in the roadway swinging tree branches at two state troopers.

They said Ed backed away toward his detached garage, where he dropped the branches, grabbed the metal rake and began swinging that at the officers.

That's when one trooper, about three steps away from the raging man, fired the shot, the neighbors said.

The man's wife or girlfriend ran into the street, crying and covering him with kisses, they said.

One weeping woman was gently escorted away by a trooper. Other stunned neighbors watched the troopers from their porches or the sidewalk.

Johnny Cielli, 81, of 102 Italy St., said the man he knew only as Ed and his family had moved into the neat white house with red trim just a few months ago.

Ed was a small man, weighing only 130 to 140 pounds, he said. Cielli used to walk by his house every day.

"I'd see him, and he'd always say 'Hi,'" Cielli said. "He had a little dog, and he'd tell me, 'Don't worry about the dog. He won't bite you.'"

Annette Knorowski, 56, of 126 Pond Hill Road, stared when she saw the police tape and heard what had happened.

She said she baby-sat two children in a house just down the street from Ed's home.

She would walk by his house while she took the youngest girl out in her carriage.

Sometimes, he would walk with her on his way to do gardening work around the town.

"He told me it was a nice town, that everyone kept the street so nice and clean, that the people were so friendly," she said.

Another time, he stopped by the house where she worked and dropped off some flyers advertising a new house cleaning service he and his wife were offering, he said.

"He was a hard worker," she said. "He was always going someplace to do something for somebody.

State troopers said they would not release a statement about the shooting until their investigation was completed.

Hudock said he would be conducting an autopsy this morning at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

From the Scranton Times-Leader -

Man attacked cop before being shot
By DAVID WEISS
dweiss@leader.net

MOCANAQUA SHOOTING
CONYNGHAM TWP. - An irate Eddie Vega wildly punched at two state troopers and ran from them until picking up a metal rake outside a Mocanaqua home.

He shifted the rake before each swing, making sure the teeth of the rake faced one of the officers, a neighbor said.

There were repeated swings, with a trooper getting struck at least once.

Then a gunshot.

The single shot fired by one of the troopers struck Vega in the chest, killing the 36-year-old warehouse worker.

The recollection of the 6 p.m. incident outside a home on the corner of Italy and Park streets came from investigators and a neighbor of the quiet neighborhood nestled along the Susquehanna River.

State police are continuing the investigation into the shooting. They will determine whether the shooting was justified, or, in a more extreme scenario, if the trooper should be charged.

District Attorney David Lupas said two state troopers from the Shickshinny barracks were called to the home for a domestic dispute.

Police were going to take Vega into custody for violating a protection from abuse order filed against him by Christina Shatrousky, who lived at the home.

But the troopers were "attacked in some manner," Lupas said.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Vega initially appeared calm, talking to troopers on the porch of the home and then across Park Street near a playground.

Then his tone changed.

"He really went berserk," the neighbor said.

A shirtless Vega started shouting and swinging his fists at police before running from Park Street onto Italy Street. He grabbed the stiff, metal-pronged rake from somewhere behind the home.

The neighbor, his view obstructed from a home, ran through his yard to see across to Italy Street.

That's where the neighbor saw Vega swinging the rake.

"He was taking pretty good swings, too," the neighbor said. "All he had to do was cooperate with police. The cops were trying to do their job."

The neighbor went back through his yard. And when his view again became obstructed by homes, he heard the shot. He went onto Italy Street where he saw Vega lying on the ground.

Vega died a short time later.

Luzerne County Chief Deputy Coroner William Lisman said an autopsy revealed Vega died of the single gunshot wound to the chest. Coroner Dr. George Hudock will reserve his ruling the manner of death until he meets with police at the completion of their investigation, Lisman said.

State police have called in an internal affairs investigators from outside the area to review the case, Lupas said.

A department policy outlines when a trooper should use deadly force, state police spokesman Jack Lewis said.

Nothing in the policy precludes the use of deadly force in self-defense, the policy states.

"Officers may use deadly force to protect themselves or another from what they reasonably believe to be an imminent threat of death of seriously bodily injury," the policy says.

But the policy also says troopers should "not shoot to kill or shoot to wound, but shall shoot the stop the action by causing the instant incapacitation of the threat."

To do that, a trooper should "shoot at the center of available body mass presented by the threat" or "shoot at an alternative target, such as the head or pelvic area," the policy says. Troopers are not allowed to fire warning shots.

Lupas on Thursday described the incident as escalating until the trooper "deemed it necessary to fire his weapon."

He said state police also called in a member-assistance team to help counsel the troopers. State police did not release the names of the officers involved in the incident. The were placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of investigation.

"Obviously, from what I understand, they are shaken up, as would be expected," Lupas said. "But they are fully cooperating."

Shatrousky had the PFA leveled against Vega in May after he beat her.

According to the PFA:

Vega, who had worked at Sears Logistics Services in Hanover Township, threw Shatrousky onto a bed at 10 p.m. May 19 and began choking her. Shatrousky's mother came to help her, but Vega pushed her away and punched Shatrousky in the face. Vega was later arrested.

In prior incidents, Vega has also pushed Shatrousky down stairs, broke her nose, kicked her and was abusive towards her while she was pregnant.

A final order of the PFA was issued May 27, calling for Vega to refrain from hitting, harassing or stalking Vega for one year.

The couple have at least one child together.

Shatrousky could not be reached for comment.

David Weiss, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 831-7397.

I like how you are defending a creep that beats up women and breaks protection from abuse orders.
Shows your true conservative colors.

I know of too many men under 'protection from abuse orders' who have never laid a hand on their wife or girlfriend. It's a common ploy of women to punish men when a relationship sours. If you can read, you may want to read the part again about the wife/girlfriend lavishing kisses on Ed's corpse.

Cops have guns, OC spray, tasers, etc, so they don't have to be in range of the deadly rake tines. The cop screwed up being 3 feet from Ed when he didn't have to be. Ed was clearly backing off, I can't believe there was no other option than plugging Ed.

There may be more to this story than we've READ, but on the basis of this article, the cop screwed up big time.

If being a conservative means sanctioning cops to execute citizens waving garden implements, maybe I'll go libertarian.

Now, it's time for you to move away from the espresso machine.

It's an ego thing the cop says "drop the rake" the guy says no.. kiss my a$$" .. then rather than suffer the "humiliation " of being disobeyed and looking for a way to calm the situation( like perhaps backing down a bit)the leo decides the best thing to do is shoot to kill.

In no way was this a desired outcome and we really know very little about the situation, but let’s be fair.

What the police knew:
There is a protection from abuse order against this man.
He is violating this order.
He is threatening them with deadly force, the tree branches.
He quickly upgrades his weapon to a metal rake.

And the solution here is to back off? What happens when the LEO’s back away a little bit and the guy darts into the garage and grabs a firearm, or runs into the group of people and drives the rake tines into the woman’s or someone else’s head, and takes away their sight or kills them? OOOP’s?

It’s a bad situation, but it’s one this man created for himself.

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