On a spring evening, the life of a young police officer was tragically cut short in a wooded area near the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton Airport. Patrolman Richard Gordon Janczewski, a 23-year-old male who had been with the Avoca Borough Police Department for a mere three months, was investigating a suspicious vehicle on May 27, 1986. As he approached the car, a man emerged from the nearby woods.
Patrolman Janczewski requested identification from the individual. The man walked to his vehicle, but instead of producing identification, he retrieved a. 44 caliber handgun and opened fire on the young officer. Despite being struck in the chest, Patrolman Janczewski managed to return fire, wounding his assailant.
The suspect, however, was not incapacitated. He walked over to the fallen officer and shot him in the head. Shortly after ending the officer's life, the suspect then took his own life at the scene.
Due to the suspect's suicide at the scene of the crime, there were no subsequent arrests, trials, or convictions in the death of Patrolman Janczewski. The officer was survived by his wife and his mother.
