Charles Metzgar, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot on May 1, 1898, and died on May 11. The shooting occurred while trying to arrest John Szojak, a “drunken Hungarian,” during a fight at Second Avenue and Greenfield Avenue in Hazelwood.
As in the Weimar and Wiggins cases, Szojak drew a gun while being escorted by Metzgar. The frequency of such occurrences in this era suggests the lower levels of police professional and training that prevailed.
Szojak was convicted of second-degree murder on July 11, 1989, the lesser conviction again being attributed to the defendant’s drunkenness.
State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh 