The shooting death of McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski marks the second time in just over a month that a law enforcement officer was gunned down in this still-new year, and gives the county the dubious distinction of being home to half of the four police officers fatally shot in the United States in 2023, according to the FBI and a nonprofit that tracks police line-of-duty deaths.
Only once in the last 10 years — 2022 — have more than two police officers been criminally killed in the line of duty in one year in Pennsylvania, according to FBI data and the nonprofit Officer Down Memorial Page.
Across the country, the number of police officers killed reached a 20-year high, at 73, in 2021. That number fell to 60 last year — still an average of five officers a month and the third-highest annual total in the past decade, FBI data shows.
In Western Pennsylvania, more than a dozen law enforcement officers have been criminally killed in the line of duty during the last 20 years. In addition to Officer Sluganski, 32, they are:
Justin McIntire, 46, Brackenridge Borough Police Department
Jan. 2, 2023
A 22-year veteran of the department, Chief McIntire was shot and killed during the pursuit of a man wanted for a probation violation. The man accused of killing him, Aaron Swan Jr., was killed later that day in a shootout with Pittsburgh police. Chief McIntire was the first law enforcement officer killed in the U.S. this year, and the first Brackenridge officer ever killed in the line of duty.
Dale Provins, Jr., 50, Jefferson Hills Borough Police Department
June 13, 2020
Officer Provins died of injuries from a collision with a drunk driver shortly after 8 a.m. on Old Clairton Road. He’d served with the department for 15 years and was a Marine Corps veteran. Nearly two years later, the other drive, Zach Foltz, pleaded guilty to one count of homicide by vehicle.
Brian Shaw, 25, New Kensington Police Department
Nov. 17, 2017
An 8 p.m. traffic stop turned deadly when Rahmael Sal Holt ran from the Jeep Cherokee he’d been riding in and opened fire on Officer Shaw, who was running after him. A Burrell High School graduate, Officer Shaw had joined the department as a full-time officer just five months earlier after serving part-time in three other departments. Holt was sentenced to death.
Scott Leslie Bashioum, 52, Canonsburg Borough Police Department
Nov. 10, 2016
Officer Bashioum was one of two veterans of the borough’s department shot in an ambush while responding to a domestic dispute. Fellow officer Jimmy Saieva was wounded but survived. Police say Michael Cwiklinski, the suspected gunman, also killed his wife before fatally shooting himself.
Lloyd Earl Reed Jr., 54, St. Clair Township Police Department
Nov. 28, 2015
An Army veteran who served five years with St. Clair police, Officer Reed died in a shootout with Ray Shetler after responding to a domestic dispute. His funeral in Johnstown drew hundreds of officers from across the country, as well as from Canada.
Eric Eslary, 40, Ligonier Township Police Department
May 5, 2015
A drunk driver with a blood-alcohol content twice the legal limit crashed head-on into Lt. Elsary’s police cruiser, killing him and injuring his police dog. He had served with the department for 17 years and left behind a wife and six children. The driver was later convicted of third-degree murder, drunken driving and other charges.
John David Dryer, 46, East Washington Borough Police Department
Dec. 19, 2011
Officer Dryer died about two hours after being shot during a late-night traffic stop along interstates 70-79. Another officer from the same department, Robert Caldwell, was also shot but survived. The accused gunman, Eli Myers, was shot to death hours later by Pennsylvania state troopers.
Derek Kotecki, 40, Lower Burrell Police Department
Oct. 12, 2011
The first member of Lower Burrell’s police department ever to die in the line of duty, Officer Kotecki was shot to death when he and his K-9 partner, Odin, approached a white Jeep to arrest a man police described as a suicidal fugitive. The shooter then killed himself. Officer Kotecki had served 18 years with the department.
Paul Richey, 40, Pennsylvania State Police
Jan. 13, 2010
A mentally ill man set a trap for police in his second-floor bedroom, using tables and blankets to create a sniper’s nest from which he shot and killed Trooper Richey. More than 1,000 mourners, including then-Attorney General and future Gov. Tom Corbett, attended his memorial service.
Michael Crawshaw, 32, Penn Hills Township Police Department
Dec. 6, 2009
Officer Crawshaw was fatally shot while sitting in his patrol car after responding to another shooting shortly before 8:30 p.m. The first shooting, over what police said was $500 owed in a drug deal, left Danyal Morton dead in his apartment.
Paul Sciullo II, 36, Stephen Mayhle, 29, and Eric Kelly, 41, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police
April 4, 2009
The three Pittsburgh officers were killed by Richard Poplawski in a shootout that shocked the city and reverberated around the country. Officers Sciullo and Mayhle were the first to respond to a domestic dispute call from Poplawski’s mother where they were shot by Poplawski, who was waiting to ambush them. Officer Kelly arrived to back them up and was shot while trying to help them.
Sam Hicks, 33, FBI
Nov. 19, 2008
Special Agent Hicks was shot and killed during a drug raid at a home in Indiana Township. After police knocked in the door with a battering ram, he squeezed through the opening and was shot by Christina Korbe, who was standing at the top of a staircase.
Joseph Pokorny, Jr., 45, Pennsylvania State Police
Dec. 12, 2005
A 22-year veteran of the state police, Corporal Pokorny died after being shot during a traffic stop. A pathologist later testified that he was shot once in the chest while standing, then again in the neck while kneeling with his hands in the air.
First Published: February 7, 2023, 10:52 p.m.
Updated: February 8, 2023, 11:28 a.m.
