Poplawski Trial: Accused Gunman's Computer Used to Review Mass Shooting

Hours before a gun battle with Pittsburgh Police erupted at his home, accused gunman Richard Poplawski viewed an online news account of a mass shooting the day before in Binghamton, NY, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

An Allegheny County detective testified Thursday that an examination of Poplawski's computer indicated that early on the morning of April 4, 2009, Poplawski twice visited a Fox News account about the Binghamton shootings on April 3, 2009, according to the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review.

Also that morning, Poplawski looked at a website espousing white-supremacy views, a Pittsburgh Penguins booster site and a dog food site, among others, the newspapers reported. The detective testified that the computer contained photographs showing Poplawski with the AK-47 assault rifle and bullet-resistant vest that prosecutors maintain he later used in the shootout with police, according to KDKA-TV.

Poplawski is accused of killing Officers Paul Sciullo II, Stephen Mayhle and Eric G. Kelly and injuring two others after ambushing them when they responded to a domestic argument between him and his mother at their home in Stanton Heights.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case, which continues tomorrow before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning.