Suspect Named in Killing of 3 Pennsylvania Officers

The gunman who killed three officers and wounded two more in southern Pennsylvania before he was killed by police was a 24-year-old being sought on stalking charges, according to court documents and law enforcement. The violence erupted in rural York County on Wednesday as officers sought a man identified by the AP as Matthew James Ruth; he had been charged with trespassing, loitering, and prowling at night in a domestic-related investigation that began a day earlier, court documents show. The York Daily Record reports on what is alleged to have transpired, per an affidavit of probable cause:

• Officers said they were called to a home on Haar Road in North Codorus Township, about 115 miles west of Philadelphia, at 11:24pm on Tuesday, with a resident reporting she saw a male dressed in camouflage who was at her driveway's end and had been looking into her home using binoculars.
• Northern York County Regional Police Department officers arrived at the home but could not locate the man. They did find a 2000 black Ford Ranger pickup truck nearby—the model Ruth was known to drive.
• The resident's daughter said Ruth was her ex-boyfriend and told police that on Aug. 20, her pickup truck had been set on fire in her driveway; a fire investigator had on Sept. 13 determined it was an intentional fire, and the daughter believed Ruth may have been responsible.
• Per the affidavit, officers said that images captured on Tuesday night by a trail camera at the home allegedly showed Ruth with "an AR-15 style rifle slung across the chest while looking into the residence. ... Over the next several hours, officers attempted to locate Ruth in the area, but were unsuccessful."
• A warrant for Ruth's arrest was filed with the York County Sheriff's Office in North Codorus Township.
• Officers returned to the Haar Road home for a follow-up visit Wednesday afternoon; a gunman shot at them around 2:10pm.

Wednesday was one of the state's 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. The two injured officers remained in stable condition in the hospital.