Police fired 10 shots at Donald Babbit in Shaler shooting

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Police fired 10 shots at Donald Babbit in Shaler shooting

Tom Davidson | Thursday, August 8, 2019 11:49 a.m.

The stately brick home on the cul de sac at the end of Spencer Grove Lane in Shaler was the scene of a deadly shooting Aug. 6, 2019. Police say Donald Babbit, 49, was acting erratically and holding a gun when officers fired on him.

Three police officers fired a total of 10 shots when they killed a Shaler man who pointed a gun at them Tuesday afternoon, Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said.

Donald Babbit, 49, was shot outside his home in the 800 block of Spencer Grove Lane.

Two officers from Shaler and one from Hampton were among those responding to a call about Babbit, who had been behaving erratically and had access to firearms, according to police.

Babbit was shot in the neck, head and trunk, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The officers who fired the shots have been placed on leave pending an investigation led by Allegheny County police, who have released no further information.

Police will turn their findings over to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office who will determine if the officers were justified in their actions.

Babbit was a high school math teacher in Penn Hills, where he was well-regarded, and what happened Tuesday contrasted with how neighbors and co-workers described him.