Police standoff unnerves quiet neighborhood
In the slanting light of a warm fall afternoon, Paula Kurutz stood with her arms folded on her front porch, her Golden Retriever, Tacoma, nestled by her leg.
Kurutz had a cordless telephone tucked in one hand and she and her dog watched as a steady stream of traffic moved up and down Center Avenue in North Union Township.
“It has been like this all day long, a parade,” Kurutz said Saturday, watching as a Chevrolet Malibu slowed and the driver craned his neck to look at the neatly kept house across the street from Kurutz with fresh plywood covering the doors and windows. “People have been driving by.”
Kurutz said she wasn’t home when a pickup truck crashed into a house on North Gallatin Avenue Extension around noon on Friday, but heard from her network of friends and neighbors that the driver of the truck, along with a female companion, had fled from that house on foot and had taken refuge in the home of her neighbor of 15 years, Norma Sherlock.
“We first heard that someone had crashed into her (Sherlock) house,” Kurutz said. “I knew that she was at work so I called her and said we would meet her up the road before she went home. I didn’t want her going there by herself.”
Little did Kurutz know that her day — one filled with trepidation and concern — was only beginning and that her caution regarding the incident on Center Avenue was more than warranted.
Sherlock’s home became the focal point of dozens of state police troopers, Uniontown police officers and other law enforcement officials over the next 10 hours as the man who fled into the home, Donald Ray Brown, 53, of Buckhannon, W.Va., hunkered down inside and a standoff ensued.
Brown was later found dead when police finally entered Sherlock’s home at 216 Center Avenue where he had barricaded himself.
Brown’s alleged accomplice, Jessica Lynn Phillips, 28, also of Buckhannon, W.Va., surrendered to police in the early moments of the standoff. She has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, attempted homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, three counts of reckless endangerment, fleeing or attempting to elude police and several other charges in connection with a police chase that led to the standoff.
Kurutz said that when she arrived up the street from her home, police would not allow her to go back to her residence while the standoff continued to unfold and said that other residences were also evacuated.
“They took every precaution and it took a long time. It was a scary situation,” Kurutz said. “I just thank God she (Sherlock) was not home.”
Police blocked off Gallatin Avenue and Bute Road to all traffic Friday until nearly midnight, and nearby Sensus Technologies had its employees on a lockdown. Police asked people in the homes surrounding the standoff to remain inside for safety.
The schools located closest to the incident — R.W. Clark Elementary and Laurel Highlands Middle School and Senior High School — were on lockdown as well.
Laurel Highlands School District Superintendent Jesse Wallace said because Clark was closest to the scene, it was the biggest concern when it was time to release students.
“Through state police and air surveillance, they determined a safe route for the kids to take,” Wallace said. Children were escorted by police to waiting parents and buses nearby, and all were out of the school before 4 p.m.
Students at LH middle and high schools who live in South Union Township were dismissed at the regular time, and those living in North Union Township in the vicinity of the standoff were held for parental pick up. Students whose parents could not pick them up were escorted to buses to be taken home when the police gave the school permission to do so.
Wallace lauded the Alert Now system, which delivers emergency messages to families in the school district.
“It worked great today,” he said. “Students and staff knew exactly what to do.”
Wallace also credited police for their help in keeping students safe Friday. “The level of support and cooperation from state police and Uniontown police was extraordinary.” He said Uniontown Police Chief Jason Cox did an excellent job of helping maintain calm through the situation.
Trooper Stefani Plume said the police chase-turned crash-turned standoff is the type of unusual scenario police officers train for.
“Incidents like yesterday remind us that it is important to constantly educate and prepare our troopers for the unexpected. These types of incidents are unique because we are not only responsible for stopping the suspects involved but we need to insure the safety of the community as well. We constantly meet with school staff and involve them in all training that we do so that they can stay as up to date as possible. We commend the staff at all of the schools involved yesterday for such a great response to an unexpected situation. It is hard to predict how incidents will unfold and I think that our training showed yesterday by the response of everyone involved,” Plume said.
And even those who hadn’t trained for such an event were ready to help as much as possible.
Kurutz said she provided police with assistance in any way she could, noting that officers camped out all around her residence, used extension cords and ladders she provided as well as porch furniture. She said other neighbors also pitched in, adding that another man in the area, who owns a catering company, provided food for officers at the scene.
“The police did an excellent job,” Kurutz said. “I thank God that it worked out as well as it did.”
She said after all the commotion settled late Friday and early Saturday and the last investigators trickled from Sherlock’s home, she and her family went about the business of boarding up the broken windows of her residence, securing it until it can be cleaned and repaired.
As for Sherlock, Kurutz said the elderly woman will be in good hands in the coming days and weeks.
“She is staying with us. I have known her my whole life. She is a sweet lady and we will take care of her.”