Man shot by state police in Washington home dies
The man shot in his bedroom while state police troopers were serving a search warrant at Washington home Friday morning has died.
Darion Thompson, 26, died Friday afternoon at a Pittsburgh hospital about eight hours after troopers raided his home, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
Shortly before 6:30 a.m., troopers from the computer crimes unit went to 18 Oak St. in the city with a sealed search warrant to seize electronic devices owned by Thompson. After they were let into the house by Thompson’s mother, they went to his bedroom, where the shooting occurred.
State police have declined to release any details about what they were investigating, what led up to the shooting or whether Thompson possessed a weapon. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh declined to comment on the case Sunday morning, citing an active investigation.
Washington Mayor Jojo Burgess, who previously said Thompson is a relative of his, said investigators at the scene told him they could not speak with the trooper who fired the shots for at least 72 hours due to “state police protocol” with officer-involved shootings. He said all of the troopers involved in serving the search warrant were immediately taken “off-site” as other state police troopers and officers from other departments secured the scene.
“I feel like (Monday morning) will be the day where they will be talking to the other individuals who were on scene,” Burgess said of the 72-hour pause before investigators can apparently speak to the trooper who fired the fatal shots. “There are some concerns, but that is something the family will need to deal with. I’m not going to say what they’re feeling or what they’re thinking. … Hopefully (investigators) are able to talk to the officer (Monday) and we can get answers that tie up these questions.”
Burgess said Thompson was deaf and intellectually disabled, and could not speak. He added that he was homebound and rarely left the house. He said Thompson’s mother did not witness the shooting, but heard two gunshots from downstairs while troopers were in his bedroom.
Following the shooting, people in the neighborhood gathered outside the police perimeter and expressed their displeasure with troopers standing outside the house. Burgess said he hoped the troopers involved in serving the search warrant were wearing body cameras and that they were activated to give the public a chance to see what occurred in Thompson’s bedroom, where he was shot.
“The climate we’re in where we have a young, Black male killed by the police, it’s going to be tense until all the facts are looked at and released,” Burgess said. “If they feel like something isn’t appropriate, they are going to want answers.”
Washington police issued a statement Friday morning that their officers were not part of the investigation in Thompson and were not involved in the shooting. City police officers were later called and helped to provide security at the scene, the department said.