Man shot by police at Pa. Walmart wanted fentanyl

SHREWSBURY, Pa. — A man in a motorized wheelchair threatened a Walmart pharmacy clerk with a sawed-off shotgun and demanded four boxes of fentanyl patches, police said Friday.

Telling the clerk at the store here that she had five seconds to comply, he counted down: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, before she turned over the powerful painkillers Thursday. Then he walked away without the wheelchair.

Seconds later, a Pennsylvania state police trooper confronted him. The trooper told the man, whom police later identified as Thomas Allen Markowski, 57, of York Township, Pa., to put down the gun.

He raised the gun, and the trooper was able to push the barrel away before the two exchanged gunshots. The trooper's shots struck the man in the chest, and he was taken into custody.

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Markowski, who lives in a small trailer park with a sticker showing his support of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association beside the door, was responsive after being shot and remained hospitalized Friday. His condition was not known.

He is charged with attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, two counts of aggravated assault, robbery, theft and related charges.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, police gave the following account of events:

A man had called the pharmacy earlier in the day asking if the store had four boxes of fentanyl patches, an opioid used to treat pain.

A pharmacy technician confirmed the availability, and the man said he would be in later to pick them up.

That evening, Markowski approached the pharmacy in the motorized wheelchair. He demanded the four boxes and said he had a gun, telling the clerk she had 5 seconds to comply.

She then told the pharmacist to call 911.

He reached through the pharmacy window and started counting down. At that point, she handed him the boxes, and he walked toward the front of the store.

Ten seconds later, the clerk heard two gunshots when the responding state trooper confronted Markowski. Four boxes of fentanyl patches fell to the floor from a black trash bag that had contained his weapon. Police identified it as a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun with a sawed off stock and barrel.

The trooper who shot Markowski is being be put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, Trooper Rob Hicks said.

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One witness, Roni Zentz, said Thursday she was sitting on a bench inside near the pharmacy, checking her phone.

That's when she saw a man yelling at the store's pharmacy employees. The man was cradling a black garbage bag, she said.

Zentz said she saw the man pull the bag back and she saw what looked like a shotgun. She said she heard two shots, one right after the other.

She yelled, "Run!"

"I ran through the garden section," Zentz said.

Friday, a steady stream of shoppers pulled up to the Walmart, only to find the store closed. It's scheduled to reopen Saturday.

Stella Neff, 83, had stopped by to pick up a prescription. "How am I supposed to get my medicine?" she asked.

The investigation is ongoing.

Contributing: Gordon Rago, York (Pa.) Daily Record. Follow Mike Argento on Twitter: @FnMikeArgento