A man who ambushed five Pennsylvania police officers this week, killing three of them, is a suspected stalker who opened fire with an assault-style rifle, according to a local prosecutor.
Officers from the North York County Regional Police Department and York County Sheriff’s Office were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for 24-year-old Matthew Ruth when he opened fire, county District Attorney Tim Barker said on Thursday.
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Ruth was killed in the ensuing gunfight with police, which unfolded at a farmhouse that belonged to his ex-girlfriend and her mother in North Codorus Township, about 185km (115 miles) west of Philadelphia.
Barker said five police detectives and a deputy sheriff sought to arrest Ruth on suspicion of stalking his ex-partner, as well as prowling and trespassing.
Ruth’s former partner, who has not been named, told police she believed he had set fire to her pick-up truck in August. She then reported to police on Tuesday that he was lurking outside her home in camouflage clothing and peering in through a window with binoculars.
After a fruitless search for Ruth on Tuesday night, police visited his home with an arrest warrant on Wednesday afternoon, but he was not there.
Officers drove to the farmhouse, from which the ex-girlfriend and mother had fled for their safety, and found the door unlocked. When officers entered the property, Ruth immediately opened fire with his AR-15-type rifle, Barker said.
Four police detectives and a sheriff’s deputy were struck by gunfire in the shootout, Barker added.
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Three of the detectives were fatally wounded. Images from the scene after the incident showed officers being airlifted to hospital by a medical helicopter.
The ambush-slaying of three police officers in the quiet farm country of southeastern Pennsylvania represented one of the deadliest days for police – not only in the state, but across the United States – in recent times.
The attack also came at a time of heightened tension surrounding gun violence in the US, just days after right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot by a lone gunman while speaking in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University.
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