Adam Zaborowksi Wiki – Biography
Adam Zaborowksi is a Pennsylvania man who Bethlehem police say refused to wear a mask in a cigar store, walked out without paying for his products and shot at the clerk. Police say Zaborowski then shot at them with an AK-47 when they pulled him over to arrest him on charges related to the cigar shop incident, according to The Washington Post.
According to lehighvalleylive.com, police and Pennsylvania state troopers were outside Zaborowski’s home waiting on an arrest warrant at 9:35 p.m. the following day, August 1, when Zaborowski left in his truck, according to police and a witness.
Bill Rutt, a Slatington resident, told the outlet he saw the truck with officers in pursuit. According to police, when they pulled him over at the intersection of Second and East Washington streets, Zaborowski got out and began firing at officers. Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said Zaborowski used “an AK-47 and an automatic pistol,” lehighvalleylive.com reported. Police said Zaborowski was in a shootout with seven officers, who shot back, hitting him in the leg and buttocks, The Washington Post reported.
“Police administered first aid to Zaborowski after the shooting,” lehighvalleylive.com reported, noting that no Pennsylvania state troopers were harmed and a Slatington police officer suffered minor injuries.
Zaborowski, who was arraigned from his hospital bed with nearly two dozen charges, had his bail set at $1 million, lehighvalleylive.com reported. He is charged with seven counts of attempted homicide, attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a gun despite a felony. The outlet also reported that Zaborowski is facing charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and reckless endangerment related to the cigar shop incident.
Adam Zaborowski, 35, opened fire at the staff of a cigar store after he refused to wear a mask in the store, police say.
After police cornered him at his home, he shot at them with an AK-47. He was later arrested https://t.co/8g77aHgm6u
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 3, 2020
Adam Zaborowksi Age
Adam Zaborowksi is 35 years old.
Zaborowski’s Lawyer Said
https://twitter.com/edgar_2k20/status/1290341115338452993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1290341115338452993%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheavy.com%2Fnews%2F2020%2F08%2Fadam-zaborowski%2F
Defense Attorney John Waldron said he spoke with Zaborowski’s father, according to lehighvalleylive.com. Waldron, who said he has represented Zaborowski before, said Zaborowski’s father told him that his son had recently lost his job and a custody battle for his child.
“He just wasn’t dealing well with the loss of his job, the loss of his child, just not handling the pandemic well. I think he was getting stretched too tight,” Waldron told the outlet, adding that he wants Zaborowski to undergo mental health evaluations.
He also said Zaborowski is lucky to be alive:
“They’re not shooting at your foot. They’re not shooting at your buttocks. It’s kill or be killed. So the fact that he got shot twice with non-life-threatening injures when he had an AK-47 and another handgun, Adam is very fortunate he ended up the way he did.”
Investigation Report
Elijah McCain unarmed, nonviolent. compliant, and innocent dies. Murdered by police for “looking suspicious” walking home from a convenient store
Adam M. Zaborowski open fired an AK-47 at officers and two store clerks over having to wear a mask and well
THIS IS AMERICA pic.twitter.com/ry9TI112Yo
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) August 3, 2020
Some on social media have said that Zaborowski was spared because of “white privilege,” comparing the outcome of his encounter with police to those of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor; both Floyd and Taylor were killed in police encounters and did not receive immediate medical attention, as Now This reported.
“A white man named Adam Zaborowski sprayed his AK-47 at a bunch of police officers. He was arrested alive and awaits trial,” one person tweeted. “A black man named George Floyd bought some cigarettes using a fake $20 bill. He had a panic attack, was dragged around at gunpoint, and brutally lynched.”
“White privilege saved his life. He pulled out an AK-47 and started firing at police. Police shot him in the ass and carried him in alive. Adam Zaborowski fired at police with AK-47 after arguing over mask rules, police said – The Washington Post,” another person tweeted.
Despite Waldron’s statement that he knows Zaborowski as well as both of his parents — and that “this is not his typical behavior pattern” — others have not been very sympathetic and some have taken issue with the way the incident was reported.
One person tweeted, “You’re missing the point, which is about the way this guy’s situation was described in the story, not what happened at the scene. That description reflects an assumption that when white people snap, it’s sad & due to stress. Black people rarely get similar grace from reporters.”
Violence Related to Mask-Wearing
Pennsylvania, like many other states around the country, has a mask mandate requiring that people wear masks indoors in response to the resurging coronavirus pandemic. The mandate came after incidents of violence against store employees began increasing as individual businesses instituted mandatory mask-wearing policies.
In Pennsylvania, Perkasie Borough police arrested a man who punched a cashier in the face after the cashier asked him to put on a mask. A woman in Dallas tossed several grocery items out of her cart after she was asked to wear a mask in a Fiesta supermarket, WFAA-8 reported.
In other incidents, a Trader Joe’s employee was beaten in New York after asking a customer to put on a mask, according to The Washington Post, and in another incident, police say an employee at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma was shot by a customer who was turned away because she wasn’t wearing a face mask and returned with a handgun.
A Target employee in California suffered a broken arm after helping remove two customers refusing to wear masks, and a security guard at a Michigan Family Dollar was shot and killed after he asked a customer to wear a mask.