In the first press conference since a Thursday morning shooting that left one Canonsburg police officer dead and another wounded, and that ended with a murder and suicide, police described heroic efforts to deal with an ambush that could have ended in even more tragedy.
Officials described the efforts of sergeants Donald Cross of Canonsburg, Matthew Collins of Peters and John Holt of Cecil, who put themselves in the line of fire of Michael Cwiklinski in their efforts to extract the two Canonsburg officers from the scene. They also described the shooter's efforts to cause explosions using fuels placed in his car and house.
What prevented the ambush from ending in a ball of fire that could have taken more lives? "To be honest with you, luck," said state police Corporal Kiprian Yarosh, at the conference at the Canonsburg Municipal Building.
The ambush cost the life of Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum and left fellow Officer Jimmy Saieva wounded. Officer Saieva is in stable condition at Allegheny General Hospital and "in excellent spirits and is expected to be released soon," according to Canonsburg police Chief Alexander Coghill.
Found dead following the incident were Mr. Cwiklinski, 47, and his pregnant wife, Dalia Elhefny Sabae, 28. Investigators have not yet determined their precise times of death.
A little after 3 a.m. on Thursday, the two officers responded in separate cars to a domestic dispute at a duplex at 120 Woodcrest Drive in the Washington County borough. Officer Bashioum, 52, was shot as he stepped out of his car, and managed to return fire toward and through the second-story window from which Mr. Cwiklinski had targeted him with a high-powered rifle.
Officer Saieva was shot while still in his vehicle.
Sgt. Cross of Canonsburg arrived next, and moved his patrol vehicle through the line of fire, twice, in efforts to rescue his colleagues. Sgt. Collins and Sgt. Holt helped him to get Officer Bashioum into Sgt. Cross's initial vehicle. Sgt. Cross then took another vehicle to Officer Saieva, and drove him to an ambulance.
While the sergeants were rescuing the officers and returning fire, Mr. Cwiklinski fired upon his own car, in which he had stowed propane, gasoline and acetylene. He hit the car twice, but it did not ignite.
"Had the vehicle been struck and ignited, it could have been tragic," said Cpl. Yarosh.
There were also two propane tanks, with valves opened, and a lit acetylene torch just inside the residence. Officials said that the potential explosion was prevented when police sent a robot into the residence, dissipating some of the gas.
Ms. Sabae was found riddled with gunshot wounds in the same second-floor room in which Mr. Cwiklinski was also found, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound through the head.
Officer Bashioum died within an hour of the shooting at Canonsburg Hospital. Officer Saieva was taken to Canonsburg Hospital and then by helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he underwent surgery. No other detail on his injuries was provided today.
Investigators said they had nothing but "speculation" on Mr. Cwiklinski's motives.
Besides the state police, Canonsburg police and neighboring departments, the Washington County district attorney, Allegheny County police, FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshal Service and city of Washington responded and assisted.
Mr. Cwiklinski, who recently worked at a manufacturing company, had prior criminal convictions stemming from his threats to shoot a dog in the 1990s, according to court records.
Ms. Sabae, a native of Egypt, who spoke five languages and was working on a master’s degree, was employed most recently at Jeffreys Drugstore on North Central Avenue in Canonsburg, and was well-regarded by acquaintances.
The two met when Mr. Cwiklinski was traveling, according to police. They married in May 2015. Ms. Sabae filed for a protection-from-abuse order against Mr. Cwiklinski six months later, alleging that he struck her with a bag full of cans, didn't allow her to have friends, and "used sex as a way to threaten me about my green card.”
He pleaded guilty to summary harassment, and had to undergo a mental health evaluation and take anger management courses. The restraining order was later dismissed after Ms. Sabae did not come to court for a hearing.
Ms. Sabae sought a second protection-from-abuse order last month, writing that Mr. Cwiklinski was intoxicated, took her belongings and locked herself in a room. She wrote that her husband “was saying that I and our baby that I am pregnant with have to die.”
Ms. Sabae indicated in her applications for the order that she did not think her husband had weapons. She was later granted a three-year protective order, which should have barred Mr. Cwiklinski from buying a gun.
Police, though, said the weapons found on the scene appeared to be owned by Mr. Cwiklinski. Other family members "knew that he had guns for hunting and things like that, but not that they thought that he would ever do anything [criminal] with," said Cpl. Yarosh. He described the family as "remorseful, saddened," and said they "never saw something like this coming."
Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone said that after the funeral, his office will be involved in a review of the question of how Mr. Cwiklinski possessed guns despite the protective order. Domestic violence victims can ask a judge to order that the abuser turn over firearms to the court and prevent the abuser from buying more guns.
Investigators do not know how Mr. Cwiklinski entered the house, Cpl. Yarosh said.
Donations can be made to The Officer Scott Bashioum Children Memorial Fund at any Washington Financial bank branch, according to the Washington County district attorney’s office. Officer Bashioum is survived by a wife, Ashley, and four children.
Visitation for Officeer Bashioum is set for Monday and Tuesday from 3 to 9 p.m., at Beinhauer Funeral Home in Peters.
The funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday at noon, at Church of the Covenant in Washington, followed by the burial at 2:30 p.m. at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. There will also be a procession through Canonsburg, but details have not been set.
Canonsburg residents have responded by leaving flags, flowers and teddy bears outside the borough's municipal building, donating lots of food, and by holding a candlelight vigil on Thursday night.
Rich Lord: rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542
First Published: November 12, 2016, 4:24 p.m.
