Pittsburgh marks 9th anniversary of officers' deaths in Stanton Heights

The city of Pittsburgh marked a somber anniversary Wednesday.

On the morning of April 4, 2009, a heavily armed Stanton Heights man ambushed officers Paul Sciullo II and Stephen Mayhle, who were responding to a domestic violence call at his mother’s home, killing both of them.

Officer Eric Kelly, a Stanton Heights resident on his way home after finishing his shift, heard the distress call and responded to the scene, where he was shot and killed attempting to rescue Sciullo and Mayhle.

They were the first police officers killed in Pittsburgh in almost 20 years, and it was the deadliest day for law enforcement officers in the city's history.

Three other officers responding to the scene, which became an hours-long standoff, were injured.

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Richard Poplawski was convicted of murdering the officers and sentenced to death in 2011.

Sciullo, Mayhle and Kelley have been honored in several ways. Plaques in their memory sit at the Zone 5 police station. A Bloomfield park is named after Sciullo, a native of the neighborhood; a baseball field in Brookline is dedicated to Mayhle; and a field in Stanton Heights bears Kelly's name.

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