City council looks to make homeowners impacted by Garfield shootout financially whole

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Terror struck a Garfield neighborhood in August as police and a barricaded gunman exchanged thousands of rounds of gunfire. 

A traumatized neighborhood was left with bullet-riddled homes, but seven months later, the city is trying to shore up those homeowners -- at least financially. 

Seven months ago, a woman who didn't want to be identified was talking to her son on the phone when her neighborhood suddenly turned into a war zone. 

"Then gunshots just started popping off -- a lot of gunshots. And my son told me, 'you better go down in the basement,'" she said.  

For the next three hours, she hid there as thousands of rounds riddled her house and others on Broad Street as police tried to subdue her squatting neighbor William Hardison, who had barricaded himself inside. 

"I'm glad that I did not stay up here because that's a gunshot there. So I was coming to peek out my door. I could have been killed," she said.  

No neighbors were wounded but when the dust settled, several houses had sustained tens of thousands of dollars in damage from gunfire and SWAT equipment knocking down fences and gardens. 

While folks in Garfield still wrestle with the terror of that day, the city of Pittsburgh is trying to make them whole financially. On Tuesday, the Gainey administration will ask city council to approve the first of what could be several payments to homeowners to repair that damage. 

While Jackie Lane's insurance company will pay most of the $50,000 bill to repair the bullet holes and other damages, the city and council are expected to pick up her deductible of $6,978 dollars. It's not a lot of money but the city says it's the least it can do. 

"If that's one thing that the city can do to help bring some peace to that neighborhood, we're going to do that," said Maria Montaño, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey's communication director. 

Sheehan: "So it looks like you'll be made whole." 

Lane: "Yes, everything will be done."

Sheenan: "Good thing." 

Lane: "Yeah."

The woman who hid in her basement was eventually rescued and evacuated by SWAT officers, and her insurance company says it will cover all damages -- deductible included. 

One good thing: the neighborhood is closer than ever. 

"We're a close neighborhood here anyway, but yeah I think we're even a little bit closer than we were before," she said. 

Lane's check could be the first of several to homeowners as they continue to put their lives together and try to move on from this trauma.