In Remembrance of Our Fallen Officers 

By Laylah Rhine 

On April 4, 2009, three police officers responded to a 911 call on 1016 Fairfield Street in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Three police officers that responded to this were not warned that the man there was armed with several guns and two of them were ambushed. At exactly 7:11 am Richard Poplawski open fired on two of the police officers. The third police officer was shot responding to the scene when trying to save the other two police officers. The stand-off between Poplawski and the SWAT team lasted for 4 hours and by the end of it three police officers were killed and two were seriously injured. These three police officers were Officer Stephen Mayhle, Officer Eric Kelly, and Officer Paul Sciullo. All three of these men had family’s that loved them dearly and still miss them to this day. It has been 14 years, and these officers are still not forgotten and honored at their station, Pittsburgh Police Department Zone 5. Every year they have a memorial service that plays the phone call that came through at 7:11 am from an officer saying that there were officers down. When Brooklynn Mayhle was interviewed, she said, “I didn’t know my dad that well because I was only 4 when he was killed, but the few memories that I have with him are so special and I miss him every day.” The one officer that they worked with stated, “No matter how many years they had on, they paid the ultimate sacrifice.” As the older sister of Brooklynn Mayhle, Jennifer Mayhle has a few more memories of her father and when she was interviewed, she said, “My dad was my hero. I cannot believe that its been 14 years since he died, but I try to make him proud everyday with everything I do. The worst thing about not having him here is when I complete each obstacle in life like graduation, college, and when I get married in a few years.” These three officers will never be forgotten and are just a few of the many fallen heroes that should always be remembered.