Ambush Perpetrated by Stalking Suspect: Police Officers Targeted in Pennsylvania
A tragic event unfolded in North Codorus, Pennsylvania, where a shootout between police officers and a suspect, Matthew James Ruth, resulted in the deaths of three officers and the wounding of two others.
The officers killed in the line of duty were Detective Sgt. Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker, and Detective Isaiah Emenheiser. The wounded detectives remain hospitalized.
The incident began when four plainclothes detectives from the Northern York County Regional Police Department entered Ruth's ex-girlfriend's home to arrest him on misdemeanor warrants. Upon entering, they were immediately met with gunfire.
Ruth, who was armed with an AR-style rifle and a suppressor, ambushed the officers inside the house. He killed three officers at the door and seriously wounded the fourth before a gunfight ensued between Ruth and two officers outside.
The shooting incident occurred on a rural road, surrounded by barns, a goat farm, soybean, and corn fields. Approximately 30 police vehicles arrived at the scene, blocking off roads.
Prior to the shootout, the ex-girlfriend and her mother had called the police and then fled the house for safety after officers dispatched Tuesday night were unable to find him there.
The ex-girlfriend and her mother had set up a trail camera and, nearly a month later, called police when they discovered an image of him wearing camouflage and peering into the house through what Baker called a scope-like device.
Before the shootout, there was a mysterious incident where the ex-girlfriend's pickup truck mysteriously caught fire one night in August. She suspected Ruth was behind it, but she asked police not to investigate.
Investigators went to Ruth's home in Hanover, about 16km from where the officers were killed, and talked to relatives earlier Wednesday. Police returned to the house on Wednesday afternoon and used a drone to scour the property.
Detectives left Hanover with several bags of potential evidence. The community, in mourning, held a vigil at a church in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, to honour the slain officers.
Community members wrote messages on stones and arranged them under a table displaying five lit candles. Governor Josh Shapiro expressed concern about the increase in violence against law enforcement.
Neighbours Rose Miller and Dirk Anderson recalled Ruth's kindness, with Miller remembering Ruth's involvement in Boy Scout fundraisers. Anderson heard 'quite a few' shots from his home across the street.
As the investigation continues, the community and law enforcement officers across the state mourn the loss of their brave colleagues.
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