Nov. 18 (UPI) — A rookie police officer from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, was shot dead in a traffic stop Friday night, authorities said.
Brian Shaw, 25, had pulled over an SUV on a road in New Kensington around 8 p.m., Police Chief James Klein said, as reported by the Tribune-Review. Shots were fired as a foot chase ensued, he said.
Shaw was pronounced dead at Allegheny Valley Hospital, the Post-Gazette reported.
The shooter is still at large, Klein said.
Authorities, including police dogs, from numerous neighboring towns are looking for the killer. New Kensington is 21 miles north of Pittsburgh.
They were looking for brown older model Jeep Grand Cherokee. Around 10:30 p.m., police had said the car was found abandoned near the shooting.
Shaw, who joined the police force in June, had a degree in Criminal Justice from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2015 and graduated from the Allegheny County Police Training Academy in 2014, according to his LinkedIn page.
Before being hired in New Kensington, Shaw was a part-time police officer in Cheswick, Frazer and, most recently, Springdale Township, according to Dawn Biery, Springdale Township secretary.
A message on the Allegheny County Police Department Facebook page said: “Officer Brian Shaw, you were taken from us too soon,” You are in our thoughts and prayers. Your life mattered and you will be missed.
His friends said he loved being a police officer.
“Ever since he was 17 or 18, that was all he talked about,” Shaw’s friend, Allie Wilhelm, said. “He was like, ‘It’s my calling.’ ”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives is offering a $5,000 reward for the identity and arrest of the person responsible for the killing.
In Baltimore, Detective Sean Suiter, 43, died Thursday, one day after being approaching a suspicious man during an investigation, officials said. The gunman remains at large and a reward has been increased to $215,000 on Friday.
