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‘Sovereign Citizen’ Suspect Dead After Hours-Long Gunfight in Pittsburgh
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The incident began when deputies tried to serve a court-ordered eviction on 63-year-old William Hardison.

An hours-long gunfight in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood ended late Wednesday afternoon when the suspect — a man deputies had been sent to evict from a home — was pronounced dead.

Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus said it wasn’t clear if the suspect, William Hardison, died from police bullets or a self-inflicted wound, WTAE reported.

The incident began at about 10:30 a.m., Kraus said, when seven deputies arrived to serve an eviction notice to Hardison, who had reportedly been living in the home for five months without paying rent and refusing to leave, as CrimeOnline previously reported.

According to WPXI, the home had belonged to his late brother, and was bought by an LLC in March after the mortgage went into arrears. Last week, a judge granted the company’s request to have Hardison removed.

Kraus said that Hardison fired at the deputies almost immediately on their arrival, with the situation “escalated tremendously” into a “pretty significant gun battle,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The deputies called for backup and began evacuating nearby residents. All the while, hundreds of bullets flew, punctuated by flash bangs.

“We certainly didn’t expect what we were up against,” Kraus said. “Things changed dramatically. They were scrambling for cover. They were fired upon, they returned fire and there was a pretty lengthy gun battle until the city SWAT arrived and stabilized the scene.”

Kraus said Hardison fired from the first and second floors of the house and that he ignored all efforts to talk.

“We tried talking to him, tried to bring him out to talk to him, you know, implemented dialogue that was unsuccessful,” he said. “Once we made contact with them, it drastically changed and we were faced with deadly force and nothing else to do.”

Miraculously, only one officer was injured —  a minor head injury that required stitches, he said.

“I can’t even tell you the number of volleys of gunfire back and forth between the suspect,” he said. “He had a lot of ammunition in that house … We were calling for additional ammunition.

Who was William Hardison?

Neighbors had mixed views on Hardison, 63. One man, Michael Pennix, told the Post-Gazette they’d been friends for a long time and that he was a kind presence in the community. But, Pennix said, he considered himself a sovereign citizen and not subject to laws.

“Dude’s always been good to everybody,” Mr. Pennix said. “This is sad. This is a hurtful day.”

Other neighbors, however, told the paper he had a violent reputation and that they were afraid of him.

During the course of the day, Hardison’s son, also named William, spoke to his father through WTAE.

“Dad, please surrender. Please give up,” the younger Hardison said. “You have children and grandchildren that love you dearly. Please stand down.”

The son told WTAE that his father absolutely believed that he was the rightful owner of the house.

Andrew Gross, the attorney for the company that bought the house earlier this year, said that Hardison never responded or showed up for any court proceedings regarding the eviction.

“He was well aware of what was going on,” Gross said, according to the Post-Gazette.

The state police have taken over the investigation of the entire incident.

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[Featured image: WTAE screenshot]