Three police officers killed and two wounded in shooting in rural Pennsylvania
The violence erupted in York County, in the south of the state, as officers followed up on a domestic-related investigation.
A suspected stalker armed with a rifle hid inside his ex-girlfriend’s home in farmland in southern Pennsylvania and ambushed police officers who came to arrest him, killing three of them, a prosecutor said on Thursday.
The violence erupted in rural York County, in the south of the US state, as officers followed up on an investigation that began on Tuesday.
Police killed the attacker, who has been identified as 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, according to a law enforcement official.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Hours after the violence, community members held American flags and saluted as police and emergency vehicles formed a procession to the coroner’s office.
Governor Josh Shapiro condemned the violence at a news conference and said it was a tragic loss of life.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi called the violence against police “a scourge on our society”.
It was one of the deadliest days for Pennsylvania police this century.
In 2009, three Pittsburgh officers responding to a domestic disturbance were ambushed and shot to death by a man in a bulletproof vest.
Police departments across the region expressed their condolences on social media, and people left flowers at the headquarters of the Northern York Regional Police Department.
The investigation into the shooting on Wednesday will cover multiple locations in York County, state police said in a statement.
The shooting erupted in an area of North Codorus Township, about 115 miles west of Philadelphia, not far from Maryland, authorities said.
Dirk Anderson heard “quite a few” shots from his home across the street from the shooting, he said. He saw a helicopter and police arrive.
The emergency response unfolded on a rural road in south-central Pennsylvania. Some 30 police vehicles blocked off roads bordered by a
barn, a goat farm and soybean and corn fields.
The two injured officers were in critical but stable conditions at York Hospital, authorities said.
Authorities did not identify the attacker, the officers or which police department they belonged to, or describe how they were shot, citing the investigation.
Another officer in the area was killed in February, when a man armed with a pistol and zip ties entered a hospital’s intensive care unit and took staff members hostage before a shootout that left both the man and an officer dead.
