Pittsburgh Cop Killer Feared 'Obama Gun Ban'

The 22-year-old man who murdered three police officers in an early morning shootout today was a fun-loving youth who feared the government would take away his gun rights, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. “He was a good kid,” said Edward Perkovic, a lifelong friend of Richard Poplawski, who’s now in police custody. “He never had bad intentions. He never spoke about harming anybody.”

Poplawksi, who’s estranged from his father and lives with his mother and grandmother, had been expelled from high school and was dishonorably discharged from the Marines. Police haven’t established a motive, but Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that's on the way” and “didn't like our rights being infringed upon,” Perkovic told the AP.
(More Pittsburgh stories.)