{"id":237075,"date":"2025-09-18T19:25:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/237075\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T19:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:25:19","slug":"officers-fatally-shot-in-pennsylvania-farm-country-were-hoping-to-arrest-suspected-stalker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/237075\/","title":{"rendered":"Officers fatally shot in Pennsylvania farm country were hoping to arrest suspected stalker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NORTH CODORUS, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Police returning to a home in the rolling farmland of southern Pennsylvania in search of a suspected stalker who may have been trespassing encountered a barrage of gunfire that left three of them dead and two more wounded.<\/p>\n<p>All three slain officers and a fourth who remains hospitalized worked for the Northern York County Regional Police Department, which called Wednesday a \u201cdark and heartbreaking day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-ea0000\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting involving police officers on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in North Codorus, Pa. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\"  width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758223517_61_\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting involving police officers on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in North Codorus, Pa. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting involving police officers on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in North Codorus, Pa. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p>Neighboring departments stepped in Thursday to help shoulder the workload as agency personnel grieved. More details were expected to emerge at an afternoon news conference.<\/p>\n<p>The violence erupted Wednesday afternoon as officers sought 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, who they believed had been at the home the night before, carrying an AK-47 and aiming a scope at the house. A woman he had briefly dated lived there and called police late Tuesday when she spotted him on a trail camera, according to a police affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>Ruth eluded police that night, leading them to return the next day after taking out misdemeanor warrants for his arrest. The young woman\u2019s car had been set on fire in August and she said she suspected he may have been involved.<\/p>\n<p>A law enforcement official who identified Ruth as the shooting suspect spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation. Ruth was killed by police at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators twice visited Ruth\u2019s home in Hanover, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from where the officers were killed, neighbor Rose Miller said. They first arrived at about noon, she said, and then again at about 5 p.m. They left around midnight with bags of potential evidence. <\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-ce0000\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"Police officers ride during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\"  width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758223518_262_\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Police officers ride during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>Police officers ride during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p>Miller didn\u2019t know Ruth well, but remembered him working on Boy Scout fundraisers. No one answered the door at the home on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to do better as a society,\u201d <a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/josh-shapiro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> said Wednesday evening. \u201cWe need to help the people who think that picking up a gun, picking up a weapon is the answer to resolving disputes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was one of the state\u2019s deadliest days for law enforcement this century, matching the toll from a day in 2009 when three officers were ambushed by a domestic violence suspect sporting a bulletproof vest.<\/p>\n<p>As news of the tragedy spread, community members held American flags and saluted as police and emergency vehicles formed a procession to the coroner\u2019s office. Police departments across the region mourned on social media, while people left flowers outside the slain officers\u2019 headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are devastated by the loss of three of our officers and continue to pray for the recovery of a fourth who remains hospitalized,\u201d the department said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have not identified the department affiliation of the second officer who was hospitalized, or named the officers who were killed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"People salute as an ambulance drives past during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\"  width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758223519_993_\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                    People salute as an ambulance drives past during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\n                <\/p>\n<p>People salute as an ambulance drives past during a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"People hold American flags before a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\"  width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758223519_186_\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                    People hold American flags before a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)\n                <\/p>\n<p>People hold American flags before a procession Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p>The confrontation unfolded on a rural road in south-central Pennsylvania, not far from Maryland. Neighbor Dirk Anderson heard \u201cquite a few\u201d shots from his home across the street and wondered what was happening. Then he saw a helicopter and police arrive. <\/p>\n<p>Some 30 police vehicles blocked off roads bordered by a barn, a goat farm and soybean and corn fields. The area, North Codorus, is about 46 miles (75 km) north of Baltimore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s strange walking down this road now and seeing all these cars and knowing what happened here,\u201d said Bryan Rice, who lives nearby and regularly walks the road with his wife. He said he was still reeling Thursday from the news.<\/p>\n<p>Another officer was <a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/york-pennsylvania-hospital-shooting-gunman-dead-270382b4e7bb1c48e78b50247c722df4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">killed<\/a> in York County in February, when a man armed with a pistol and zip ties entered a hospital\u2019s intensive care unit and took staff members hostage before a shootout that left both the man and an officer dead. <\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Durkin Richer reported from Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press reporters Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island; and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTH CODORUS, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Police returning to a home in the rolling farmland of southern Pennsylvania in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":237076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[127228,127230,57,4222,10577,2936,564,127227,8006,50,5217,2830,127229,3677,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-237075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-bryan-rice","10":"tag-dirk-anderson","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-gun-violence","13":"tag-josh-shapiro","14":"tag-law-enforcement","15":"tag-maryland","16":"tag-matthew-james-ruth","17":"tag-md-state-wire","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-pa-state-wire","20":"tag-pennsylvania","21":"tag-rose-miller","22":"tag-shootings","23":"tag-u-s-news","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115226943791329814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}