Pacini posted a YouTube video in which he made “terroristic threats” against police and FBI agents. In the same video, Pacini also mentions that he had spent time in a mental hospital, and expresses concerns that the CIA was trying to kill him.
Sources say that police were trying to contact Pacini over reports from a LA Fitness club employee who described Pacini as acting “irrationally.”
Court records show that he had been arrested twice in the last decade, and the video also makes reference to “taking a fall” for his family in the past.
“This time, the Sicilian code is now busted. I’m opening my mouth,” he said. To police, FBI, and CIA agents, he added, “I will f-cking kill you and your whole f-cking family.”
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Pacini after the video’s release. They followed him from his home in Clifton Heights – a suburb of Philadelphia – and stopped him at the intersection of Garrett Road and Shadeland Avenue.
When ordered from his car, Pacini reversed into a police vehicle, and, according to police, prepared to run down other officers manning a blockade.
Five officers opened fire. Pacini did not fire a weapon, and Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood doesn’t know if Pacini was armed.
No officers were injured. Stray bullets reportedly struck windows of local bank and medical offices.
“The officers were in fear of their lives and did what they had to do,” Chitwood said. “He threatened to kill police, threatened to kill FBI agents.”
This latest shooting comes amid a climate of tense flare-ups with police. A Brooklyn man, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, ambushed and murdered two police officers on December 20, an incident which has had police departments on-edge nationwide, and protests continue over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner by police officers.
On Sunday night, two men opened fire on a police car patrolling South Los Angeles. One suspect was arrested.
The LAPD said there was no connection to the anti-police sentiment responsible for the recent increase in police threats.
