Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Jeffrey Valperga knew he had only seconds to act when two men wearing black masks slammed their shoulders into the front door of his Upper St. Clair home, trying to knock the door in.
“They weren't coming in for coffee,” Valperga said Thursday.
So he grabbed his gun and fired.
His wife, Karen, and son Evan were home when the men tried to break in.
Surprised, the attackers slipped on the icy front steps and slid down, he said. They scrambled into a sport utility vehicle and sped away.
Evan, 18, started to chase them but slipped on the ice. Valperga said his son hit his head so hard he immediately began seizing.
“If he hadn't fallen, I'd probably have gone after them,” he said. “The police said they were armed. It's probably better that I didn't.”
A manhunt ensued, drawing police from several departments. Two suspects were arrested — identified in court papers as Kevin Bradley Caldwell, 30, of Wilkinsburg and John Wayne Trowery, 27, of Castle Shannon — within three hours at the border of Pittsburgh and Baldwin Borough. Allegheny County police and Upper St. Clair police would not comment, saying they would hold a news conference “when and if new information becomes available.”
Valperga said police told him that the men were on a “random crime spree.”
“They see the big house, and no one came out when they went through the car — they thought they'd hit the jackpot,” he said.
The attempted home invasion began around 3:30 a.m., when Evan saw two men rifling through his father's car.
Valperga runs Affordable Decks and Additions, headquartered in Bethel Park, and he said employees often stop by the house to get keys or supplies. His son initially thought the men were employees.
Then he watched them drive up and down the quiet, dead-end street several more times during the next half-hour, Evan said. When they started walking toward the Valpergas' front door, he woke his father.
“I pulled my gun and came downstairs,” Valperga said. “They had on masks. They were running at the door with their shoulders. They were coming in.
“If I hadn't had a gun, we'd all be dead.”
Baldwin Borough police Chief Michael Scott said his department received a call just before 5 a.m. about a disabled vehicle on River Road. Witnesses reported three black males wearing black, hooded sweatshirts running from the vehicle.
Officers found the car running with no occupants but money and several weapons inside, Scott said.
Baldwin and Pittsburgh police searched the area and eventually brought in K-9 units, he said.
Sometime after 8 a.m., a bus driver flagged down an officer and reported seeing a black male running up a hillside near Baldwin Road. Scott said the officer found the man — later identified as Trowery — on Glass Run Road, wearing a shoulder holster without a weapon.
Trowery ran before he was captured by officers who had to deploy a Taser to subdue him, court papers state. He was attempting to stop a Port Authority bus when he was found.
Scott said Pittsburgh officers found Caldwell, who was armed, in an abandoned rail building along the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh.
Trowery told police that he was “too intoxicated and high” to recall any of the events that occurred before police arrested him, court papers state.
Neither man was specifically charged with the home invasion. Both were awaiting arraignment in Night Court on a variety of charges, including receiving stolen property, conspiracy and various drug violations.
Valperga said the incident left his family shaken.
“A lot is going to change,” he said. “I'm here now trying to figure out where to put security cameras and motion sensors.”
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/7569586-74/police-baldwin-valperga#axzz3Ow9xrifQ