Details of McKeesport officer's fatal shooting emerge; man charged

The man accused of killing a McKeesport police officer and wounding another Monday afternoon was said to be experiencing PTSD and told witnesses just moments before the shooting that the police were trying to kill him and asked them to record his interaction with them, according to court documents.

The witnesses did and captured the shooting of Officer Sean Sluganski and Chuck Thomas on video, according to a criminal complaint filed late Monday.

Allegheny County Police charged Johnathan Jermia Morris, 31, of 1411 Wilson St., McKeesport, with homicide, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer and two counts of attempted homicide.

Sluganski, 32, who had worked for the McKeesport police for two years full-time, was killed. Thomas suffered gunshot wounds to the face, neck and hand.

Morris, who radio dispatchers said was a military veteran, was also wounded in the incident and taken to a hospital.

After he was wounded, Morris attempted to present himself to witnesses in the area as a victim, according to the criminal complaint.

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In so doing, the complaint said, he almost shot a third McKeesport officer — the shift commander — who was responding to the scene to assist Sluganski and Thomas.

McKeesport police were dispatched to Morris’ home after his mother, Candace Tyler, called at 12:11 p.m. and said that her son was being aggressive toward her and having a “PTSD episode,” according to the complaint.

Although the affidavit of probable cause identifies the officers who were shot as Officers No. 1 and No. 2, officials later identified them as Sluganski and Thomas.

Sluganski arrived on scene three minutes later and was told by Tyler that her son had fled. She pointed down the street in the direction he left, the complaint said.

At 12:21 p.m., Sluganski radioed Allegheny County dispatch to tell them that Morris was walking on Sumac Street near Craig Street.

He then said that Morris was on Garbett Street, heading toward Patterson.

At approximately 12:25 p.m., Sluganski announced on the radio that Morris was running.

“‘Watch his right hand in pocket, appears real heavy,’” Sluganski said on his radio.

Thomas then announced to dispatch that shots had been fired, and he was also hit.

“Got shot in the face, shot in the face,” Thomas shouted, according to archived dispatch recordings. “Get me some help. Get some help, I’m hit.”

Detectives said Thomas returned fire, striking Morris in the right leg.

After Morris was initially shot, he ran along DeLong Alley to the Unimart parking lot on Versailles Avenue where he approached two people, telling them he’d been shot and needed help, the complaint said.

One of those witnesses told Morris to lay down and began to put a tourniquet on his leg.

“As witness No. 4 was applying the tourniquet, he observed Morris pull out a handgun and point it in the direction of a McKeesport police officer approaching them,” the complaint said.

That officer was the shift commander on duty, the complaint continued.

As the shift commander, who is not named in the complaint, got to the area, he saw Morris on the ground in a pool of blood with two people helping him.

As the shift commander approached, Morris told him he had just been shot and pointed toward DeLong Alley. As the shift commander looked that way, the complaint said, “Morris pulled out a handgun and pointed it directly at (the shift commander.)”

Morris fired one round, and the shift commander returned fire at Morris as he rolled across Patterson Avenue.

Another officer arrived, the complaint said, and the two took Morris into custody.

One of the witnesses at the Unimart was struck in the boot with a bullet.

Other officers responding to the scene found both Sluganski and Thomas at 1300 Grandview Ave.

Sluganski was not responsive, and Thomas was “critically struck in the face and neck and bleeding heavily.”

Sluganski was pronounced dead at McKeesport Hospital at 12:58 p.m.

The two witnesses in the car that Morris initially approached told detectives that after Morris spoke to them, they followed him up Grandview Avenue inside their vehicle, while one of them recorded on their cell phone.

They saw Morris walk into the front yard at 1300 Grandview and saw a black police car pull just past into the alley.

The witnesses said they also saw a second police officer on foot near Morris.

According to the affidavit, the witnesses saw Morris pull a gun out of his clothing, point it at Thomas’ police car and start firing.

The witnesses told detectives they then saw Morris turn toward Sluganski, who was in the grass, and shoot at him.

The witnesses turned the video over to Allegheny County detectives who later said that it corroborated their statements.

Detectives processing the crime scene recovered multiple spent shell casings, including .40 caliber casings around Thomas’ patrol car, as well as 9 mm casings where Morris was seen on video firing toward Sluganski and Thomas.

Neither Allegheny County nor Pennsylvania state court records show any criminal history for Morris.

According to law enforcement sources, Morris’ mother, Candace Tyler, worked as a McKeesport police officer from 2005 through Oct. 19, 2021, when she was fired.