D.A. visits scenes related to killing of Brackenridge Police Chief McIntire

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala joined county police and municipal police Wednesday in visiting several scenes related to the investigation of the day Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire was shot and killed."Sometimes you can read it or you can see a picture of it but you really don't understand it," Zappala said in explaining his interest in the site visits.A key scene visited by the D.A. with detectives was the area between two homes on Third Avenue in Brackenridge where McIntire was ambushed, shot and killed by fleeing suspect Aaron Swan, Jr."I would like to say this: Chief McIntire had his Taser drawn; he did not have his service weapon drawn. His intention was to apprehend a criminal, but he wasn't going to use deadly force," Zappala said.The communities involved in the search for Swan that day have small police departments."With only four officers responding initially, it's not hard to conceive a scenario where he (Swan) would get behind you and that's what he did," Zappala said.Honoring Chief McIntire:Brackenridge police chief was ambushed during deadly shooting, police sayFinal farewell to Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntireSecond T-shirt sale announced for fallen Brackenridge police chiefZappala said he thought the officers did a good job that day. He believes this scene visit and case review may lead to more needed resources for their police departments."Some investment in some technology, to give these guys an extended perimeter, maybe. I mean, those are discussions I started with a couple of the departments. Would that help? Yes, absolutely," Zappala said.The DA indicated that, while swan was later shot and killed during a confrontation with police in Pittsburgh, there is an open aspect to the case."Swan was with somebody else. He's not complicit in the homicide, but I do believe he's complicit in some other criminal conduct Swan was engaged in, so we intend to explore that thoroughly," Zappala said.Zappala promises a report to the public in about two weeks of the findings of his review of the circumstances leading to McIntire's killing."I think the community really needs to know exactly what happened, from start to finish," Zappala said. "I'm going to try to get this wrapped up as best I can within the next ten days to two weeks, so please bear with me."