Good Guy with a Gun #205: Farrell, PA
Good guy with a gun saved a cop with a gun from a bad guy with a gun. DA says: well done. | Original incident: May 24, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is essentially the same as the calendar version.
We don’t talk about officer-involved shootings much around these parts, because we’re focused on the judicious application of gun violence by ordinary citizens. This is an exception, though — because a valid concealed carry permit holder may have saved a police officer’s life.
Officer Jason McDonough from Farrell, Pennsylvania1 observed Michael Biro in his car in front of Luxx convenience store concealing a gun. McDonough asked Biro if he had a permit. Biro didn’t produce one, so McDonough ordered him to surrender his weapon. Biro refused.
Biro then pulled his weapon and fired on the officer, who drew and returned fire, but stumbled and fell. Biro got out of his car and came after him.
Malik Mataria, the store owner, saw what was happening.
“He had a valid concealed-carry permit, he had a gun,” Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker said. “He went to where the police officer was and fired on the suspect.” Acker also said that Mataria “apparently [saved] the life of the police officer.”
On the ground, Biro still refused to relinquish the gun. “He had a weapon on his chest. It was believed to still be loaded. He refused multiple commands to push it away,” Acker said.
The Critical Incident Team was called in. All told, more than 40 shots were fired by the three men, and the police officer fired a dozen beanbag rounds, before they subdued Biro.
Biro was flown to the hospital with life-threatening wounds.
That was all on May 24. By June 7, the DA had cleared McDonough and Mataria. Acker said, “I will not be filing any charges against either of them and as to them, my investigation is closed.” Biro was still in the hospital, condition unclear.
A bystander with a gun served and protected that day.
Sources
The only sources I can find for this incident are:
Two articles from WKBN 27, the first published right after the incident and the second when the DA said no charges would be filed against the cop or the store owner. I’ve embedded the YouTube link to their video below.
Similar articles from the Herald, first and second. Note that the second article here is the only one that mentions the store owner’s name.
First, the calendar had a typo: It’s “Farrell,” not “Ferrell.” Second, I have to say that I did a double-take when I listened to the video — it sounded like he said, “The situation started just after midnight as a feral patrolman approached someone sitting in the parking lot…” Everyone knows that you shouldn’t feed feral patrolmen after midnight, right?
Oh, my, untamed policemen! Sounds like a good thing the store owner was armed and was willing to help. _40_ shots, though, and they were all still alive at the scene?! Wow.