Was Hatboro Councilman Justified In Shooting Bank Robber?

George Forgeng was walking along Lehman Avenue in Hatboro on Wednesday morning, not far from his family home.

It’s a sunny and bright residential block, with clean white sidewalks and closely cropped grass lawns.

Summer weekday mornings are quiet here, with sparse traffic at that time of day, with the occasional passerby walking home with groceries or the occassional group of children racing by on their bicycles.

At the intersection with York Road there is a TD Bank on one side and a United Methodist Church on the other. And it’s not far from where Forgeng, 60, a Republican Hatboro councilman and an industrial arts teacher at Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, saw something out of place on the sunny suburban block.

A dye pack exploded on the sidewalk near a man who was walking toward him.

To Forgeng, this could mean only one thing: he had just robbed a bank.

As a councilman, Forgeng was likely familiar with the York Road TD Bank, which has been robbed multiple times over the past few months.

So he leapt into action.

He moved toward the man and yelled for him to stop.

But the man began to run. He ran down Lehman Avenue and through the residential streets.

He ran through backyards and over fences.

He ran across SEPTA tracks and along a busy street.

Forgeng repeatedly yelled for him to stop and told him to get on the ground. The councilman would later tell police that he assumed the suspect was armed because he had just robbed a bank.

The suspect, half Forgeng’s age, stopped running after about a quarter of a mile. They were in the rear lot of 330 South Warminster Road. Forgeng repeated again for the man to get on the ground.

But Kevin Philip-Johnson Way did not get on the ground. He turned and began walking toward Forgeng.

That’s when Forgeng, who has a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon, shot Way twice, once in the hand and once in the arm.

After being shot, Way agreed to get on the ground. Police quickly arrived and took him into custody.

He was treated for non life-threatening injuries at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Police are still investigating the high school teacher turned vigilante-hero.

They are still looking for answers to questions about the incident. Forgeng, after all, did not witness the robbery itself.

And Way was not armed, despite intimating to bank employees that he was.

One defense attorney told Philly.com that this could make for a difficult situation for Forgeng.

“If it turns out that he wasn’t sure if it was the robber . . . he had no reason to believe the person was armed, and there were no movements that appeared that he was armed . . . then the question is, can he shoot somebody under those circumstances?” said David Zellis, who is also a former Bucks County prosecutor.

Forgeng, meanwhile, is cooperating fully with the investigation, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney.

On Friday morning, the sun is still shining clean on the bright sidewalks of Lehman Avenue.