William Hardison’s neighbors on Broad Street in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood said they saw red flags prior to the hours-long standoff Wednesday that left him dead, but city officials on Thursday said they saw little indication that an attempt to remove him from the home would turn into a firefight.
Public safety officials said after seven deputies from the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the home in the 4800 block of Broad Street Wednesday morning and attempted to serve an ejectment notice, the armed man inside began shooting.
Deputies and later police from multiple agencies returned fire. About six hours and thousands of fired rounds later, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office on Thursday identified that man as Hardison, 63, and said he was “suspected of being shot by law enforcement.” The office has not released an official cause or manner of death.
Neighbors said Hardison was the brother of the late Joseph Hardison, who purchased the home in 1998. Joseph Hardison died in 2021. In February 2023, the home was purchased by 907 East Street LLC from Joseph’s estate and William Hardison’s father for $25,000, according to Andrew Gross, an attorney for 907 East Street.
In an interview, officials of the company, which rehabs and sells houses, said William Hardison had been “squatting” at the property since March.
According to court records, Gross first filed an ejectment complaint in May to remove Hardison from the property, but sheriff’s deputies were unable to serve Hardison with the papers, as the “Adult on scene refused to accept service.”
There was no landlord-tenant relationship between William Hardison and the company, and thus no contract between the two that could be breached. So rather than filing for eviction, Gross filed the ejectment complaint, which typically takes longer and is used when a person does not have a legal right to inhabit a property.
The ejection papers were served to Hardison via certified mail in June. Hardison did not respond in court.
But a photo provided by 907 East Street shows that at some point, Hardison scrawled handwritten notes across the front door, warning people not to trespass.
“Not for sale,” “Private property,” “William Hardison lives here,” “See U in federal court,” the door read.
A federal lawsuit filed by Hardison in March against Rushmore Loan Management Services for “trespassing [sic] on my property” and “fraud” seems to reference that last message. Rushmore appears to have held the mortgage when Joseph Hardison owned the home. Hardison filed the lawsuit himself in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, without representation by an attorney.
Jackie Lane, whose home shares a wall with the home Hardison was occupying, said she became concerned after learning of his impending ejection by the real estate company and what she described as multiple “negative” interactions with Hardison.
“He was not a friendly neighbor,” Lane said, noting that his grass was overgrown and describing him as “loud and obnoxious.”
“I thought he was going to be some trouble,” she said. “We just had no idea that it was this severe.”
But others remember Hardison differently. Friends posted on social media and told news outlets that Hardison was a veteran and had mental health issues, describing him as a kind and gentle man. Some referred to him as “Mr. Bill.”
Lane and other neighbors said they learned that Hardison owned weapons shortly after he moved in. Last spring, Hardison called 911 and reported that a number of guns had been stolen from his home, Lane said.
At a news conference Thursday, Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto confirmed that police received a call from Hardison on March 23. Hardison reported the theft of a firearm that had belonged to his brother, Joseph, the chief said.
In the weeks before the attempted ejection, some neighbors said they saw Hardison carry gasoline canisters into the house, which concerned them because he didn’t use a gas-powered mower to tend to his lawn. At least one neighbor and a representative of 907 East Street said they called 911 and told police about the incident. Lane, however, said she saw Hardison using the gas can to fill his car tank just a few days ago.
The representative of 907 East Street, who asked that his name be withheld, said police told him they planned to perform a wellness check on Hardison. Neighbors said police later told them they didn’t receive a response after knocking on the door. Scirotto said Thursday he could not confirm that such a wellness check took place.
During the same time period, Lane said another neighbor told her about seeing Hardison take a rifle case into the house. But she said there were no indications that Hardison had stored enough ammunition for the kind of lengthy firefight that took place Wednesday.
Gross, the lawyer for 907 East Street, said he stopped by the sheriff’s office last week to warn that an attempt to eject Hardison could be “problematic,” citing the messages Hardison had written on the front door and his “prior conduct.” Gross said the two deputies with whom he spoke thanked him and told him they thought they’d be able to handle the matter.
At a news conference Wednesday, Sheriff Kevin Kraus said his office had obtained some information in advance about the person inside the home, but he declined to specify what they had learned. The office also held a meeting to plan and consider a strategy for serving the ejectment notice before the deputies did so, Kraus said.
Since the shooting, police officials have declined to comment on the type of firearm Hardison fired at deputies when they arrived, or if he had more than one firearm, although they’ve said he had a large amount of ammunition.
Records show that Hardison also had been removed from a Marshall-Shadeland apartment through an eviction proceeding in late 2021, seemingly without incident.
On Thursday afternoon, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey told reporters police did what they could to spare Hardison’s life. Gainey said he grew up with members of the Hardison family, though he didn't know Hardison.
“Nobody here wanted the events from yesterday to end in the results that it ended in. We also want to make sure we understand that he was a father, son and a veteran who served our country. The primary work yesterday was around protecting the lives of people in that neighborhood and making sure that everybody on that street was safe,” Gainey said.
Police Chief Scirotto said “thousands” of rounds were fired before Hardison’s death.
“When we attempted to make communication, Mr. Hardison was either not communicative and or met that response with gunfire. The tactical team exhausted every resource available, from communication to playing family messages to less-lethal force options and then ultimately deadly force,” Scirotto said.
Pennsylvania State Police are reviewing the incident. Per Pittsburgh Police protocol, 47 city officers involved in the standoff — including most of the SWAT team — will be on administrative leave for several days during the review.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office confirmed that 16 deputies also are on paid leave for firing their weapons during the incident, and must complete an evaluation next week before they can be cleared to return to work.
A county police spokesperson said 12 county police officers are also on administrative leave.
