One Pa. officer slain, another injured in ambush

PITTSBURGH - A Canonsburg police officer was shot to death and another wounded early Thursday when they were attacked while responding to a domestic dispute in what authorities characterized as an ambush.

About six hours later, after mobilizing multiple law enforcement agencies and SWAT units, police entered the duplex on Woodcrest Drive and found a man and woman dead inside.

Washington County Coroner S. Timothy Warco identified the dead man as Michael Cwiklinski and said he killed himself. The woman was identified as Dalia Elhefny Sabae and is believed to have been shot before the officers.

"We are confident there is no ongoing threat to the public," State Police Trooper Melinda Bonderanka said at a news conference at the Canonsburg municipal building.

A man who answered the door at the home listed for Cwiklinski's parents said the family did not wish to speak except to say that they are "very sorry for the police officers."

Bonderanka said the officers in the 17-member Canonsburg Police Department responded to a call for a domestic disturbance at 3:13 a.m. and were "ambushed upon their arrival." The call came from the occupant of the adjoining residence.

The officers - Scott Leslie Bashioum, who was killed, and an unidentified officer who underwent surgery and is in stable condition at Allegheny General Hospital - arrived on Woodcrest around the same time in separate vehicles. They got there within about six minutes of the 911 call. It was not clear whether either got out of his police car or fired his service weapon.

"They were immediately fired upon," Bonderanka said.

State Police Capt. David Heckman said law enforcement was continuing to process the crime scene.

"We are still putting a lot of this together," Heckman said. He added that police were almost certain they had identified the dead woman but would not confirm her name until authorities were absolutely certain.

He also said that concerns that the apartment might be booby-trapped prompted law enforcement to request aid from the Allegheny County Police bomb squad, which was on scene. It was unclear if the bomb squad found anything.

Alexander Coghill, chief of police in Canonsburg - a borough of about 8,900 just southwest of Pittsburgh that is best known as the birthplace of crooners Bobby Vinton and Perry Como - said the suspected shooter was known to his department.

"This is one of those things you hope you never hear," Coghill said.

His sentiments were echoed by Mayor David Rhome.

"You receive a phone call like this, your stomach just turns upside down," the mayor said.

Asked what message he would give to Bashioum's four children, Rhome said: "We will be here for you."

Officials remember Bashioum, 52, as a well-liked family man who had served with the Air Force. He had been with the Canonsburg department for about seven years; the wounded officer was a 15-year veteran.

District Judge Jay Weller said he just saw Bahsioum last week and recalled him as positive, upbeat, and polite.

"I used to call him Cliff Clavin. He was one of those guys with all this minutiae of information," Weller said, referring to the trivia-filled mailman character on TV's Cheers.

Keith Jacob said he lives two doors down from where the shooting took place and heard gunshots Thursday morning.

"That's what woke me up. Then I thought I heard someone say 'My partner's down,' " he said.

He said the couple who lived at the house where the shooting occurred had past domestic problems.

"She has had a [protection from abuse order] against him. . . . There have been back-and-forth disputes going on," said Jacob, who also said the woman was pregnant.