South Fayette standoff ends with suicide
A 46-year-old man from Pittsburgh’s East End shot himself in the head July 18 at the Knight’s Inn in South Fayette Township following a five-hour standoff with law enforcement officials.
According to South Fayette Township police reports, Walter Morris met a 14-year-old Duncan, Okla., girl online. They allegedly struck up a friendship and Morris went to Oklahoma to meet her. It is not yet clear whether the pair got married, or if Morris took the teenager against her will.
John Phoennik, South Fayette police chief, said his department received a telephone call July 18 from the Duncan, Okla. police department about the missing girl. The teenager had been reported missing by her parents on July 17. Duncan is located in the southern part of Oklahoma, about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City.
“His (Morris) phone had been pinged to here,” said Phoennik, explaining how Morris was traced to the Knight’s Inn on Hickory Grade Road. “He was in room 208. We set up a perimeter and notified the appropriate personnel.”
For five hours, law enforcement officials from South Fayette, as well as the FBI and police departments from Allegheny County, Bridgeville, Scott and North Fayette, tried to convince Morris to let the girl go and leave the hotel room, Phoennik said. Morris, however, committed suicide. The girl was unharmed. The standoff ended around 9:20 p.m., police said.
Phoennik said he plans to honor the three officers involved in the standoff at an upcoming township meeting.