State authorities confirmed the shooter had been killed but offered few details of the incident in rural York County.
Three police officers have been killed and two critically injured in a Pennsylvania shooting that also led to the death of the gunman.
The slain and injured officers were reportedly following up on a domestic-related investigation that began the previous day.
Speaking at a local hospital where the two officers were in critical but stable condition on Wednesday, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris confirmed that “the shooter is dead”, but provided scant details as to the deadly events that unfolded in the rural York County shooting.
“I can assure you that all the resources of the Pennsylvania State Police are being brought to bear,” Paris said, adding the site of the shooting was still “very much an active scene”.
Paris said Pennsylvania State Police would convene a “major case team” in partnership with the York County District Attorney’s Office and that he had been in touch with the FBI.
The commissioner was joined by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who had rushed to the scene in North Codorus Township, about 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of Philadelphia, to meet with families of the slain and injured police officers.
“This is an absolutely tragic and devastating day for York County and the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.
The shooting of the five officers comes on the heels of another high-profile police officer death that has rocked the county of less than 500,000 people.
On February 22, an officer was killed by police gunfire during a shootout with a man who was holding staff members at a local hospital hostage. The attacker was also killed.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, who worked as a prosecutor in York County for years and also headed to the scene Wednesday, deemed the shooting “unfathomable” on social media.
A local school district issued a shelter-in-place order as reports of the shooting emerged. The order was lifted later in the afternoon. The district said in a statement that authorities “advised us to hold students and staff in our buildings as a precaution while several area roads are closed”.
US Attorney General Pamela Bondi called the violence against police “a scourge on our society”.
Governor Shapiro said Bondi had reached out to him directly to express the support of the federal government.
3 officers killed in shooting in central Pennsylvania and 2 officers in critical condition, officials say
Three officers were killed and two remain in critical but stable condition after a suspect opened fire while law enforcement officials attempted to serve a warrant Wednesday afternoon in rural central Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris said.
The shooting suspect is dead after being shot by police, officials said.
Law enforcement officers were on their way to arrest the shooter after a charge of stalking and criminal trespass was filed Wednesday in York County, law enforcement sources told CNN.
The shooter appeared to be lying in wait when officers arrived, the sources said.
The shooting unfolded on Haar Road in North Codorus Township, a pastoral area of York County dotted with small barns and sprawling farm land about 2 1/2 hours west of Philadelphia.
A medevac helicopter would later be spotted in one of the area’s grassy fields, flanked by the winding road lit up by flashing lights from several responding fire engines, police cars and ambulances.
The shooter is the ex-boyfriend of a woman who lived in the farmhouse where the shooting occurred, according to multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. On Tuesday, the ex- girlfriend reported to local police that she had observed the man in a nearby cornfield stalking the residence, the officials said.
Northern York police obtained an arrest warrant and restraining order, but were unable to find the suspected shooter when they attempted to serve him Tuesday night, according to the officials.
When officers returned in a follow-up visit Wednesday, the camouflage-wearing shooter opened fire from the cornfield, striking and killing three Northern York officers, the officials said. He then began moving toward the house, where he engaged three York County sheriffs, according to the officials. Two were shot and one was able to return fire, killing the shooter, the officials said.
It is not clear whether the shooter was waiting for the ex- girlfriend or the arresting officers, according to the officials.
This is the second farm community marred by officer-involved gun violence in the state this year, officials noted. Last month, a 61-year-old man in Susquehanna County shot two state troopers on a highway after officials says he killed his neighbor. He was fatally shot by police.
The threat of gun violence is not something those living in North Codorus Township are used to, according to resident Dave Miller.
Law enforcement officials have the tough task of keeping communities safe in a changing world, Miller told CNN. “This isn’t a big city. This is wide open spaces,” Miller added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro asked the public to think of the families of the officers wounded and killed.
“It’s an extraordinary thing what these law enforcement families do. They support the individual who puts on the uniform and runs toward danger,” Shapiro said in a news conference Wednesday. “They’re there for them when they leave in the morning, and they pray throughout the day that they will come home at night.”
Officials did not identify the officers involved and which law enforcement agency they worked for.
“The death of any public servant is an absolute tragedy,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement.
“Learning that three officers were killed in York County where I worked for many years as a prosecutor, and where I still call home, is unfathomable,” he added.
The FBI along with agents from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are supporting local officials, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an X post Wednesday afternoon.
“Violence against law enforcement is a scourge on our society and never acceptable. Pray for the officers involved,” Bondi added.
Bondi reached out to Shapiro directly, he said, noting that the state will get the full support of the federal government as it continues its investigation into the incident.
Shapiro also addressed the ongoing issue of gun violence in the United States, saying, “We need to do better as a society. We need to help the people who think that picking up a gun, picking up a weapon is the answer to resolving disputes.”
So far this year, 37 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty, according to data from the FBI. A total of 64 officer deaths involved a crime in 2024, the data shows.
CNN’s John Miller contributed to this report.
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