UPPER SAINT CLAIR, Pa. — Four SWAT team officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man during a mental health crisis in Upper Saint Clair.
Chris Shepherd, 48, had a history of mental health calls when his mom called for help in January. Upper Saint Clair police had responded multiple times to the home in recent months, but in this incident he had a knife.
“That’s a knife. It’s a kitchen knife,” said District Attorney Stephen Zappala in a news conference on Friday. “The significance is this is no longer a mental health matter, it is now a police matter.”
>> Man dead after officer-involved shooting in Upper Saint Clair
Zappala said the SWAT team was called in when officers saw a knife in the corner of a boarded up door in the front of the home.
Multiple rounds of pepper balls were fired into the home during the four-hour standoff. When Shephard exited the home, Zappala said he could be seen with a knife in one hand and a lamp in the other hand, running down the driveway.
“Unfortunately he’s coming at the people who are unarmed with a knife raised and a lamp in the other arm,” said Zappala.
That is when they sent the K-9 after him, and he was taken to the ground. Zappala said a commander on scene told the K-9′s handler to go get him after a couple seconds, and Shepherd made a knife gesture in the air.
Zappala showed body camera footage that shows officers had non-lethal bean bag guns at several points during the standoff, however real guns were used at this point. What happened next was not caught on an cameras.
“He gets close enough to Christopher, who still has the knife, and Christopher goes like this, several times, that’s based on testimony, I do not have body cam that corroborates that,” said Zappala. “In a period of five seconds there are 21 shots fired, 18 hit him.”
“They decided to shoot 21 times at a man sitting on the ground,” said Michelle Kippelen, Christopher’s sister. “I don’t think my brother, who was the kindest most gentleman I ever met in my life, who was in the throes of a mental health crisis, was justified in being murdered that day.”
Christopher’s mom wept during the press conference, which they were not formally invited to but heard it was opened to the public and showed up to learn information for the first time.
She spoke out during Zappala’s conference saying they destroyed her, “destroying my house, destroying my heart and destroying my son.”
Zappala said the Upper St Clair Police Department handled everything correctly. He said the SWAT team could have handled the situation differently, and some ‘failures’ happened. But ultimately, he said no crime was committed by police.
Chris’s family question whether less lethal force could have been used. Zappala said he wishes there had been a different outcome. He told them one change has been made since this incident and all South Hills SWAT team members will wear body cams.
Chris’s family filed a civil lawsuit. They said they tried multiple times to get Christopher they help he needed leading up to the fatal shooting.
“We’d call Resolve, they’d say call police, we’d call police they’d say call Resolve. Call Resolve, call police, there was nowhere to get help, nowhere to turn. There was nowhere to turn, nobody who would help us the help he needed, until he was murdered.”
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