75 Pittsburgh officers on leave after hourslong shootout and standoff during eviction attempt
www.nbcnews.com
The suspect, William Hardison Sr., shot at deputies trying to serve an eviction notice, resulting in a standoff that lasted about 6½ hours.

    Details are still scant, but…

“I mean, he had a lot of ammunition in that house, and certainly … all of us were strapped, you know, with ammunition, and we were calling for additional ammunition,” Kraus said. “Like I said, we tried to give him every opportunity to come out.”

    …I’ll go way out on a limb and suggest that this could’ve been handled better.

  • iN8sWoRLd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    161·
    1 year ago

    Here’s what I read - I do not have the source but it was on a local Pittsburgh news site IIRC. He wasn’t paying rent. House was his deceased brother’s house which he bought in 1998 - not sure if shooter had inherited it or not, but there was something in excess of 15K owed for back taxes on it. An LLC paid the taxes on it and BOOM its their house - he filed paperwork with the state that they were scammers and he was contesting what he saw as an someone stealing his house. The LLC filed to have him evicted. Ultimately he made a bad decision to use a weapon and not a lawyer but he was ex-military and may have seen this as the last straw.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
      9·
      1 year ago

      He was a SovCit.

      Court records show the house was owned by Hardison’s brother Joseph, who died in March 2021. It was deeded to their father, William Hardison Sr., who neglected to make mortgage payments. The house was foreclosed upon and sold in March to a limited liability corporation called 907 East Street.

      William Hardison Jr. was evicted from an apartment on the Northside last year for non-payment of rent. The attorney for 907 East Street says he began squatting in the Board Street home in April, and the LLC petitioned for his eviction in May. William Jr. then filed papers in federal court accusing the new owners of fraud and trespassing, maintaining the house was his and refusing to leave – despite a judge’s order to do so.

      https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/who-is-william-hardison-suspect-in-garfield-standoff-held-sovereign-citizen-beliefs/ar-AA1fK1nZ

      • seathru@lemm.ee
        3·
        1 year ago

        In some US states, yes. If a property does not have it’s taxes paid, the state/county takes possession. Often they will auction it off or sell it for the amount of taxes owed.

        • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
          1·
          1 year ago

          What’s preventing the state from just raising taxes on all the properties that a business wants to absurd levels, seize it and sell it if to that business for cheap?

          This sounds very undemocratic.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        1 year ago

        You get a year to pay back the person who paid your taxes + a fee, it’s not something that happens all of the sudden.