By Steve Marroni
The Patriot-News
NEW FREEDOM, Pennsylvania — “He doesn’t need a prescription,” Terry Lee White told the pharmacist as she rushed to the back of the store. “He has a gun.”
She likely thought she’d never utter that sentence, especially in reference to a regular customer at the Shrewsbury Walmart, but she testified on Wednesday that’s what happened when Thomas A. Markowski, 58, came up to her pharmacy window on April 7.
All charges have been bound over to York County Court after a preliminary hearing Wednesday for Markowski, whom police say used a sawed-off shotgun to rob the Walmart pharmacy of Fentanyl before shooting at a state trooper on his way out.
According to testimony at Wednesday’s hearing in New Freedom, the incident occurred like this:
White was working at the Shrewsbury Walmart’s pharmacy counter when Markowski, who was riding one of the store’s motorized carts, came up to the window.
It seemed like he was struggling, and he told her, “I’m dying” and “I need my Fentanyl patches.”
When she asked for his prescription, he told her he had a gun.
“He said I have 10 seconds to retrieve the Fentanyl,” White testified.
As she went back to talk to the pharmacist, a cashier, Stuart Wiener, heard the commotion and called 911.
Markowski stuck his arm behind the counter, telling White she was moving too slowly, and started counting down from five.
As she went back to the counter with the patches, she saw he was holding what appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun inside a black garbage bag. She gave him four boxes of Fentanyl and said, “now go.”
He got up from the motorized cart and started to walk out of the store.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Darrio Parham happened to be in his cruiser, parked at the Walmart, grabbing a bite to eat.
It’s customary for troopers to park there sometimes as a deterrent to potential shoplifters, he said.
Parham had only been on the job for about five months at that point when the 911 call came through.
At first, Parham thought the suspect had a knife, and he walked to the front of the store as Markowski was coming out, carrying the shotgun.
“He was pointing it straight at me,” Parham testified.
Wiener was there, too, and he said Markowski was telling them to get out of his way.
As Markowski approached, Parham grabbed the shotgun, which went off. It was unclear if it was an accidental discharge or if Markowski intended to fire at the officer, but Parham drew his gun and shot Markowski in the chest.
The shotgun blast hit the wall about 6-feet above Wiener’s head.
Senior Judge Nancy Lee Edie found there was enough evidence to send all charges against Markowski to York County Court, where he is set for arraignment on Sept. 30.
He’s facing charges of criminal attempt at the murder of a law enforcement officer, robbery, theft, possession of a weapon, recklessly endangering another person, assault of a law enforcement officer and two counts of aggravated assault.
But even after the hearing, one question still remained -- who is Thomas Markowski?
“That’s the thing, we don’t know,” York County Chief Deputy Prosecutor David Sunday said.
It’s not even clear where he lived.
In requesting bail, Markowski’s attorney, Ron Jackson, only had a partial Annapolis, Maryland address, as well as an address at a farm in another part of Maryland. Markowski is listed as living in York in charging documents, but he told the court he lived in Maryland all his life.
The judge granted Markowski $2 million bail.
But there are still a lot of unknowns about what happened, who he is, and what led to the incident. Sunday said it’s not even clear, at this point, if he has a terminal illness, as he had told the pharmacy tech.