Witnesses testified today for several hours about a standoff in Greensburg in which a Seton Hill University student died.

At an inquest before attorney John Greiner police described the Feb. 15 incident in which Joe Frederick Briggs, 22, was shot and killed by a state police trooper after a three-hour standoff in which he fired at least 58 shots at neighbors' homes, cars and police.

State police investigators said Mr. Briggs, a senior from Dickerson, Md., had gone drinking with friends Feb. 14 and gotten "heavily intoxicated" at the Filly Corral, a strip club in Smithton. On the drive back to his home in Greensburg, he began firing a gun randomly out the car window.

Once home, police said, he had threatened his roommates and himself with a gun before his roommates escaped the house and Mr. Briggs began firing shots into the street at about 4 a.m. After shooting at parked cars and neighbors' houses for three hours, Mr. Briggs went into an upstairs bedroom, broke out a window and fired a rifle toward Trooper Ronald Salandro, who is assigned to the Kiski barracks and is a member of State Police Special Emergency Response Team. The trooper, who had taken up a position beside a home, fired a single shot, fatally wounding Mr. Briggs. Trooper Salandro testified today about the shooting, which occurred around 7 a.m.

He was pronounced dead by the Westmoreland County Coroner's Office. An autopsy determined Mr. Briggs died of neck and chest wounds from that bullet.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said there weren't any surprises at the inquest.

He said it may take a week or so for the transcript to be prepared, and then Mr. Greiner will issue his findings.

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