By Walter F. Naedele
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The 21-year-old man shot to death by police in his mother’s Warminster backyard last week was carrying a pellet gun when he threatened the officers, Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney David Zellis said today.
At a press conference in Doylestown, Zellis held up the pellet gun and the weapon of which it is a replica - a Walther PPK.
“The frightening fact,” Zellis said, “is there is absolutely no way a police officer could tell he didn’t have a [real] gun.”
Sullivan did not fire the pellet gun, Zellis said, but was struck seven times as he ran toward three Warminster officers and a Warrington officer in a yard adjoining the Sullivan backyard.
“He told them he had a gun,” Zellis said. “His actions posed an imminent threat” and the police “had no choice but to use deadly force.”
Engraved on the gun, Zellis said, is the warning: “Not a toy. Misuse may cause serious injury or death.”
Warminster Police Chief Michael Murphy said after the news conference that officers had gone to the home of Sullivan’s mother, Carol Sullivan, 46, at about 6:30 a.m. Friday to serve an Abington warrant charging that she had lied to police there by using the name of his brother, Cory, 18, to bail Sean out of jail.
Sean Sullivan was also wanted on an Abington warrant for having used Cory’s name when he was arrested on a charge of using a stolen credit card, Murphy said.
Philadelphia Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/)