Gunman opens fire on cops with AK47 after being told to wear face mask in store

'He just wasn't dealing well with the loss of his job, the loss of his child, just not handling the pandemic well,' his lawyer said.

A man opened fire on at least seven cops after he shot at a store clerk for asking him to wear a mask, police said.

Adam Zaborowski, 35, is charged with 22 counts in connection with his two-day crime spree including attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery.

Police said Zaborowski went to Cigars International in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania on Friday where he got into an argument with a store clerk who told him to wear a mask.

The clerk reportedly offered to serve Zaborowski curbside, but he became irate and instead pulled out a piece of paper with an apparent line from state law that he insisted proved he did not have to wear a mask, a witness told WFMZ. However, the state made masks mandatory in most public places as of July 1.

‘It’s crazy. It’s a mask, you known. The guy was obviously anti-mask,’ said Tom Gallagher, who was shopping in the store at the time.

Zaborowski then took two cigars without paying and walked to his car where he retrieved a handgun which he fired once in the air and twice at the clerk.

Police responded to Zaborowski’s home the next day to arrest him, but he fled in a truck, according to the Express-Times. Officers stopped him a short time later, but Zabrowski jumped out of the car and began shooting at police with an AK-47 and a handgun.

‘Both the slatington Borough officer and troopers returned fire and struck Zaborowski, Trooper Nathan Banosky said.

Zaborowski was struck by bullets in the buttocks and leg. He is expected to recover.

‘The fact that he got shot twice with non-life-threatening injuries when he had an AK-47 and another handgun. Adam is very fortunate he ended up the way he did,’ Zaborowski’s lawyer, John Waldron said.

Zaborowski is now being held on $1 million bond and Waldron said his client’s actions, while unjustified, came amid personal turmoil after he lost his job and custody of 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,’ Waldron said.

‘I think he was getting stretched to tight.’

However, prosecutor James Martin said, ‘it doesn’t excuse his conduct.’

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