I’m sure there will be numerous appeals resulting in many delays, but here’s wishing that the execution of Richard Poplawski will actually be carried out.
RAZING OF COP KILLER HOUSE ENDS PAINFUL CHAPTER
A hole in the ground remained at the scene of a shootout that killed 3 cops
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
October 15, 2011
PITTSBURGH — A fresh layer of hay and a hole in the ground were all that remained on Monday afternoon at the scene of a shootout that killed three Pittsburgh police officers.
After two years of bureaucratic and legal maneuvering, a contract crew demolished the brick home on Fairfield Street in Stanton Heights where Richard Poplawski fatally shot Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II on April 4, 2009.
Neighbors, law enforcement and city leaders said the razing closes out a painful time for the community.
"It brings tears to my eyes," said Tracy O'Brien, 33, who lives on Downlook Street behind the Poplawski house. "You still relive each minute like it was yesterday."
O'Brien's brother-in-law, a city SWAT officer, responded to the shootout, which started with a 911 call from Poplawski's mother, Margaret, who owned the house. O'Brien was home that day with her husband, Flynn, and their sons Declan, 7, and Keelan, 4, who took pictures of the demolition.
"It's a happy day, yet a sad day," she said. "We don't want it here anymore."
Workers from Hazelwood contractor Jadell Minniefield Construction Services knocked the house down in less than an hour. A crane lifted piles of debris into trucks for removal. Neighbors holding coffee mugs huddled together across the street to watch as dust wafted over the neighborhood. Many said they didn't want to talk about it.
"I just hope the neighbors will be happy with the work," contractor Odell Minniefield said.
City officials declared the home uninhabitable because of damage from the shootout. Mortgage-holder JP Morgan Chase foreclosed on it.
Officials delayed one sheriff's sale as Margaret Poplawski sought to buy it back. A judge denied her request to delay the sheriff's sale again, and JP Morgan Chase bought the house last week for $3,011.04, the amount owed on it in costs and fees.
The bank sold the property to the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority for about the same amount, and the city fast-tracked the demolition.
"These folks who live on Fairfield and the surrounding areas, they've had to live with a visual reminder of the horrors of April 4," said City Councilman Patrick Dowd, whose district includes Stanton Heights. "Seeing this house torn down is part of the process that needs to take place in order to move us beyond that event."
Dowd said neighbors are interested in buying the property through a sideyard program and maintaining it for the neighborhood's children.
"That would be the most fitting memorial for that particular space — to see some happiness and life there," Dowd said.
A jury this summer convicted Richard Poplawski, 25, of killing Kelly, Mayhle and Sciullo when they responded to his mother's call for help. He is on death row.
Police Chief Nate Harper said in an e-mailed statement that the department appreciates the razing of the home.
"The removal of this residence certainly helps in the healing process not only for the Bureau of Police and the Stanton Heights community, but for all of those who embraced our loss on that fateful morning," Harper said.
Stephanie Richards, who lives nearby on Hawthorne Street, paused at the end of a workout to watch the demolition.
"I think it's wonderful for the neighborhood to not have to look at this house and the memory," Richards, 49, said. "It will be great to have new growth."
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