By Kathleen Brady Shea
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — After allegedly killing a man in Philadelphia and abducting his female companion, a 42-year-old man armed with a 9mm handgun held police in Chester County at bay for more than nine hours yesterday before killing himself, police said.
The standoff with David P. Krieg, which delayed the opening of an elementary school about a mile away, began at 4:29 a.m., said West Chester Police Chief Scott L. Bohn. However, Bohn said, police were put on alert several hours earlier.
The standoff ended at 1:56 p.m. when Krieg shot himself in the head.
Bohn said Krieg’s parents called police shortly after midnight to report that their son had phoned them and said he planned to take his own life. A search of Krieg’s apartment on West Barnard Street in West Chester revealed that Krieg’s handgun was missing, Bohn said.
Police received another call from the residence of Krieg’s parents in East Bradford Township at 4:09 a.m. This time it was from a woman, who told police that Krieg had abducted her in Philadelphia after shooting her male companion, Bohn said. He said the two had just returned to her residence in the 1200 block of Brandywine Street after going out to dinner.
Bohn said the woman, who is not being identified, said Krieg had driven her around “for several hours” before freeing her at his parents’ home. Bohn said “whatever relationship” existed between Krieg and the woman had ended about a month ago.
A relative who answered the phone at the parents’ home declined to comment.
Philadelphia police said they were notified at 4:45 a.m. of the shooting, which they believe occurred several hours earlier. The victim, Anthony Ottaviano, was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:52 a.m. of a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
At 4:29 a.m., a West Chester patrol car spotted Krieg traveling south on Route 52 in a silver rental car, Bohn said. Krieg pulled into the parking lot of the Simon Pearce restaurant, and when officers approached him, he already “had a gun to his head,” Bohn said.
He said state police negotiators “did an outstanding job, an excellent job” of establishing contact with Krieg by phone and trying to persuade him to surrender.
Chester County First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody, who was at the scene, also commended the negotiators, especially Cpl. Michael King, of the Avondale barracks.
King “did an admirable job of talking to this troubled person for hours . . . trying to prevent him from doing something he was determined to do,” said Carmody.
Krieg is listed online as a contact person for Pet Memorial Services in West Chester. The person who answered the phone there said, “We’re not going to talk about David,” and hung up.
Bohn said he was told that Krieg “was not currently employed.”
According to court records, Krieg had no criminal record and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001.
The standoff at Simon Pearce occurred about a mile from the Pocopson Elementary School, which is at Route 926 and Pocopson Road.
Sharon E. Parker, superintendent of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, said her decision to delay the opening of Pocopson Elementary School was made after multiple briefings from police. In an e-mail to parents, Parker wrote that authorities assured her there was no “threat of violence directed to the students, staff, or the Pocopson facility.” The school has an enrollment of 600.
Copyright 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer