#Man in wild police shootout was ‘not handling the pandemic well,’ lawyer says

A Pennsylvania man who started multiple shootouts last week, including one with police, was “just not handling the pandemic well,” according to his lawyer.

The series of incidents began when a clerk at the Cigars International Superstore in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, confronted Adam Michael Zaborowski, 35, for not wearing a mask while indoors.

He allegedly refused to comply with the mask order, and turned progressively angrier before stealing two cigars.

When the clerk followed Zaborowski outside he pulled out a handgun. Zaborowski fired one shot in the air and two at the clerk, according to the Bethlehem Township Police.

Zaborowski was on the lam for several hours after the incident in Bethlehem, and eventually returned to his home in nearby Slatington.

While local and state police staked out his home waiting for a search warrant, Zaborowski fled in a blue pickup truck. When the authorities tried to follow him, he opened fire on officers with an AK-47.

Only one Slatington PD Officer was injured during the gunfight, while Zaborowski was shot in his leg and buttocks.

He was flown to St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem.

Zaborowski was arraigned on 22 charges related to the incident in Slatington.

According to his lawyer, John Waldron, Zaborowski lost his job during the pandemic and had recently lost a custody battle.

“He just wasn’t dealing well with the loss of his job, the loss of his child, just not handling the pandemic well,” Waldron told Lehigh Valley Live. “I think he was getting stretched too tight.”