Police fired 55 shots

By LAURIE MASON

WARMINSTER - The gun police say Sean Sullivan pointed at them moments before they fatally shot him wasn't real, but it sure looked it.

In fact, prosecutors said Tuesday, the 21-year-old Warminster man was brandishing a pellet gun that was a dead ringer for a Walther PPK, the same gun James Bond used in the 007 spy movies.

Faced with what they believed to be a real weapon, the officers were justified in using deadly force against Sullivan, said David Zellis, first assistant district attorney.

"They believed that such force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to themselves and others," Zellis said. The officers fired 55 shots, six of which hit Sullivan in the shoulder, chest, leg and back, according to a coroner's report.

Zellis, releasing the results of a four-day investigation into the shooting, placed full blame for the incident on Sullivan, who forced a standoff with officers trying to serve his mother an arrest warrant.

"It was Sean Sullivan who said he had a gun and threatened police. The officers repeatedly offered him a peaceful way out," Zellis said.

He said Sullivan, who had a long arrest history, "squared off" with the cops who tried to stop him from leaving his back yard, and kept running even after police started firing. Zellis said the officers shot Sullivan as he tried to scale a fence to prevent him from getting to another yard, where more police officers and neighbors were.

"It was Sean Sullivan who made all these decisions. They could not allow him to leave that yard with that gun," Zellis said.

The shooting occurred about 6:30 a.m. at the Chestnut Road home Sullivan shared with his mother, Carol Sullivan, 46.

Officers went there to serve Carol Sullivan with an arrest warrant for allegedly giving false information to authorities while bailing Sean out of jail after he was arrested by Abington police two weeks before for alleged credit card fraud.

After a brief struggle, police say, Carol Sullivan was taken into custody. But Sean barricaded himself in his bedroom, police say, and told police he had a gun.

At least 10 officers from Warminster and nearby Warrington surrounded the home. Sullivan then climbed out a window and ran toward the cops, pulling the gun from his waistband, Zellis said.

The prosecutors said the officers told Sullivan to put up his hands, but he kept pointing the gun and threatening them. After he was hit by the first shot, he kept coming toward them then ran for the fence, Zellis said.

The officers who fired the fatal shots were not named. The incident was the first time that cops from either township have fatally shot a suspect.

Warminster Chief of Police Mike Murphy said the officers involved in the shooting have been cleared by a psychologist to return to work. But, he said, they will not forget the violent incident.

"The officers involved in this shooting will remember that day for the rest of their lives," Murphy said. "Every one of those officers felt threatened to a point where they had to use deadly force, and they have to live with that. They did what they had to do to protect the community."

Carol Sullivan will not face charges stemming from the standoff, Zellis said.

She was arrested on the day of the shooting on charges stemming from the bail incident, however, and could be found in violation of her Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) agreement, which was issued last year after she was charged with possessing marijuana.

Carol Sullivan could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The Courier Times was unsuccessful in tracking down other family members for comment.

It was unclear why Sullivan had the pellet gun, which can be purchased in many sporting goods stores. To emphasize how real the black metal weapon looks, Zellis placed it on a table next to a real handgun during a press conference in his Doylestown office.

The weapons were almost twins. But on the pellet gun, in very fine print, a warning was etched:

"Not a toy. Misuse may cause serious injury or death."