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DA to review Pgh. standoff shooting

Armed man killed by SWAT marksman

PITTSBURGH — A district attorney will determine whether Pittsburgh police were right to kill an armed man in his apartment after a 10-hour standoff.

Authorities say 29-year-old Lamar Smith was shot by a SWAT marksman when he refused to drop two guns as officers cornered him in the apartment's bathroom about noon Thursday.

At various times, police fired tear gas rounds and a non-lethal bean bag round in attempts to subdue Smith.

The marksman shot Smith through a window after a remote camera showed he was still armed as police closed in.

Police were first called to an apartment in the North Point Breeze section of the city after a report of two men fighting in the street, police spokeswoman Diane Richard said. Police said one man was the father of the other's girlfriend and the fight began as a dispute between the couple, and the father asked officers to check on his daughter.

The officers saw the man sitting in the hallway in his underwear holding a gun in each hand, and he did not drop the weapons when ordered to do so, police said. Everyone else was evacuated and the extended standoff began, during which the man fired a shot inside the apartment and at one point tried to jump out a window with the guns in his hands, police said.

The man fired shots at officers, but they did not return fire at first, police said. He was later seen lying on the floor with a gun in each hand and was asked again to surrender, but instead rose and advanced toward officers, after which a marksman fired one shot at his chest, police said.

The man was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon. No other injuries were reported.

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