Congressman Sestak Statement on Penn Hills Shooting

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was fourteen years old. It was in 1972. I am a cops kid and I remember what it felt like when my dad would walk the beat in East Hills. It was a very unsettled time in our history and that particular place was becoming a rather crime ridden area. I remember that day because my dad was doing a few extra shifts a week at the shopping center and he was sharing the territory with his two friends and fellow police officers. Officer Shrott and officer Connelly. They were the two other officers working there that day. It was a warm and sunny day and who would have ever have predicted that it would be shattered by gunfire and two lives would be lost. As fate would have it , my father was not one of the victims that day. He very well could have been but because he had to leave his post for a few moments, his life was spared. But was it really??My father was never the same after holding his friend and fellow officer in his arms as he died.It seemed to me at times that he felt guilty that he was allowed to survive. What happened that day was that a young woman dresses as a young boy ran out of a store holding a gun. The officers were hesitant to shoot a child, and because of this human flaw they both lost their lives. Sadly it was to be learned that it was not a child , but it was a grown woman. Even sadder to remember is that two years later a person showed up at our house collecting money to help her in her studies where she was incarcerated. All of a sudden she became the victim. What an unfortunate world it has become when we protect the criminals and punish the victims. I hope to God that this latest young officers life will be vindicated and his family be honored. Maybe we should all take a good look around us and really try to open our eyes because I think this world has forgotten who the good guys really are.