Anthony Joseph Gorman

Sergeant Anthony Gorman died as a result of complications due to a gunshot wound sustained 17 years earlier while investigating a suspicious vehicle in a church parking lot on Keely Road shortly after midnight.

Unbeknownst to Sergeant Gorman, the subject was responsible for several armed robberies in the area and had committed one shortly before the shooting. As Sergeant Gorman approached the vehicle, he was shot by the subject just below his vest, striking him in his abdomen. Sergeant Gorman was able to return fire at the subject but did not strike him. The subject fled the scene of the shooting in a wooded area to his home where he was arrested by authorities several hours later.

Sergeant Gorman was rushed to a hospital in the city of Franklin where he was initially treated and then life-flighted to a hospital in Pittsburgh.

As a result of the gunshot wound, Sergeant Gorman went through several hospitalizations before he was able to return to work for a short time. He medically retired in August 2000. He had multiple recurrent bleeding episodes that required multiple blood transfusions. As his health continued to deteriorate, Sergeant Gorman died shortly after hospitalization as a result of complications.

The subject was sentenced to 17 to 50 years in prison for attempted murder and armed robbery. While in prison, the sentence was increased after the subject attacked two corrections officers at the Venango County Jail and for retaliating against a witness as the result of writing a letter to Sergeant Gorman while serving his original sentence. The subject was found dead in his cell on March 10th, 2015, at the State Correctional Institute in Albion, Pennsylvania.

Sergeant Gorman was a retired U.S Army Military police officer and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He served with the Sugarcreek Borough Police Department for 20 years. He is survived by his wife and four children.