'It hurts 10 years later': Officers killed in Stanton Heights ambush honored
A decade of blue carnations and moments of silence, of “Taps” and bagpipes and of the same somber final roll call each year around 7:03 a.m. hasn’t lessened the pain.
Hundreds of Pittsburgh police officers gathered Thursday at the city’s Zone 5 station — the “fightin’ fifth,” the sign out front declares — to remember Paul Sciullo II, Stephen Mayhle and Eric Kelly, the three officers killed in an ambush 10 years earlier on Fairfield Street in Stanton Heights.
“It’s been 10 years today, but it still hurts like it just happened yesterday,” said Kelly’s niece, Jene Meyers.
The memorial service has happened each year on April 4 since that morning. Meyers said the ceremony and anniversary are overwhelming.
“You live that day all over again,” she said.
It’s never far from Chief Scott Schubert’s mind, he said.
“It’s just — it’s a void in our hearts that will never be filled,” Schubert said. “You can’t forget the sacrifice, but it’s important that we always remember the lives that they lived. They were good men. They were good officers. It hurts. It hurts us. It hurts 10 years later.”
Hereâs @PghPoliceChief Scott Schubert speaking on the 10-year anniversary of the Stanton Heights shooting that left three officers dead. pic.twitter.com/SN1qzxPPVm
— Megan Guza (@meganguzaTrib) April 4, 2019
Sciullo and Mayhle responded to a report of domestic disturbance near the end of their shifts April 4, 2009. A woman wanted her son out of the house after an argument. As they walked through the door, the 22-year-old man opened fire on the pair.
Kelly was on his way home from his shift. He dropped off his daughter and rerouted to Fairdale Street to back up his fellow officers. He was shot as he pulled to the scene in his patrol car.
Around 7:03 a.m., the time the shooting began, a final call goes out over police radio remembering the men who “made the ultimate sacrifice of service to the citizens of the city of Pittsburgh.”
“Their bravery, selflessness and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Allegheny County dispatcher Michael Steinmiller said on scanners across the city. “They will forever be in our hearts, and their families will forever be a part of our Pittsburgh police family.”
âTheir bravery, selflessness and sacrifice will never be forgotten.â pic.twitter.com/GCqndYFFQm
— Megan Guza (@meganguzaTrib) April 4, 2019
“Taps” on the trumpet, a bagpipe performance and a prayer followed the dispatch honoring the officers. Three officers presented each family with a bouquet of flowers. A wreath was placed at the bronze memorial plaques outside the station.
No one spoke during the ceremony — neither police brass nor public officials — and attendees stood silently throughout the brief memorial as well.
Each family member placed a blue carnation at the memorial. Schubert followed, then the command staff, then the hundreds of officers who stood solemnly throughout the service. Mayor Bill Peduto placed a carnation, as did his Chief of Staff Dan Gilman and Councilman Corey O’Connor. The carnations piled quickly in front of each plaque.
Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich did not head the department in 2009, but the Pittsburgh area is his hometown, and he began his career as a city paramedic.
“Public safety — whether it be police, fire, paramedics — they wake up every day wanting to help people,” he said. “It’s not for the pay. It’s because of their dedication to the public and to making sure that everyone is safe and … that their colleagues are safe.
“It has been 10 years,” Hissrich said, “and we will continue to remember them for the rest of our lives.”
Staff writer Jamie Martines contributed to this report.
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