Officials identify victims, suspect in fatal shooting of 3 Pennsylvania police officers. .m

A man accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend hid inside her York County, Pennsylvania, farmhouse and then ambushed five police officers, killing three, who were there to arrest him on Wednesday, according to the county’s district attorney.

The ambush-style shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday at a farmhouse in North Codorus Township while police were attempting to arrest the suspect, 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said.

Police arrived at the home around 2:10 p.m. Wednesday and noticed the front door was unlocked even though the ex-girlfriend and her mother had locked it before leaving for their safety.

“Make no mistake about it, and this I can conclude by all reasonable inferences by all information without speculation,” Barker said. “Had they arrived home and not Northern Regional Police Department officers arrived, they would have been killed immediately.”

Police opened the door and were immediately fired upon by Ruth, who had an AR-style rifle with a suppressor, Barker said.

Ruth fired multiple rounds at four police officers at the door, killing three of them, Barker said. Then a gunfight between Ruth and two officers outside ensued. Ruth wounded a sheriff’s deputy before police shot the suspect to death, according to the DA.

Barker identified the officers who died as Detective Sgt. Cody Becker and detectives Mark Baker and Isaiah Emenheiser. They all worked for the Northern York County Regional Police Department.

Baker was a former Philadelphia highway patrol officer from 2001 to 2004 before moving to York County. Baker had been with the Northern York County Regional Police Department since leaving Philly.

“In terms of legal aspects, one of the things that I want to make clear of right now, although it would be crystal clear and obvious to any human being on the planet, but just to make sure that this is articulated legally,” Barker said. “All actions by law enforcement were justified. They weren’t only justified, but they were necessary.”

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Police said the ex-girlfriend’s dog was found shot dead in the basement.

One of the wounded officers also belongs to the Northern York department. Authorities have yet to identify the department affiliation of the second officer who was hospitalized.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, at an unrelated press conference Thursday, offered remarks about the families of the two wounded officers.

“I got to spend a little bit of time yesterday with the families of those who were shot, and thank God, are going to recover. They have a long road ahead of them,” Shapiro said. “I just found it so striking that while they were there, worried about the well-being of their family members, they were also just so proud of how their family members put that uniform on and ran out toward danger to keep others safe.”

The community is reeling in grief. Neighbors lined up along streets to pay their respects to the fallen law enforcement officers late Wednesday night. An officer was seen kneeling at the scene early Thursday morning.

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The York County district attorney’s office and state police are leading the investigation with help from federal law enforcement.

What led to the York County, Pennsylvania, shooting

The violence that erupted on Wednesday began as a police investigation that was domestic in nature, Barker said.

According to court documents, Ruth’s ex-girlfriend reported to police she believed he might have set her truck on fire while it was in her driveway on Haar Road on Aug. 20. She asked police not to investigate the incident and didn’t identify Ruth to police at the time. Fire officials were later able to confirm the fire was intentionally set, court documents show.

After the fire, the ex-girlfriend put up a trail camera and later used it to identify Ruth to the police after he was seen looking through a scope device and pointing it toward the home, according to court documents. The camera also captured Ruth carrying an AR-15 style rifle across his chest, court documents show.

On Tuesday night, the mother of Ruth’s ex-girlfriend noticed a man was on her property and using binoculars to look through a window, court documents show. She told police the man was wearing camouflage, and the trail camera showed him standing in her driveway.

Police couldn’t find the man Tuesday night but did find a black Ford Ranger truck parked unoccupied in the woods line on Emig Road, according to court documents.

The ex-girlfriend told police Ruth had never been inside the home, and the two only briefly dated, according to court documents.

A court docket shows stalking, loitering and criminal trespass charges were filed Wednesday against Ruth.

On Wednesday, Baker, Becker and Emenheiser and two other officers executed a search warrant and interviewed Ruth’s family members at his home in Hanover, about 10 miles away from where the officers were later killed, according to the York County DA.

The officers left Ruth’s home shortly after 1:20 p.m. and returned to the ex-girlfriend’s home. Police returned to the ex-girlfriend’s home just after 2 p.m. and searched for Ruth near the house. They then went to the front door, and the gunfight began.

“The officers involved with this incident went to a home to protect a woman and her children,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said. “They encountered a force of evil hell-bent on taking lives. Think about that. Think about what these officers went through.”

Data shows a growing threat of ambush attacks against police officers nationwide. Shootings against police have jumped 60% since 2018, according to data tracked by the Fraternal Order of Police, a law enforcement member organization that’s been tracking the shootings since 2015, and the percentage of ambush-style attacks is steadily growing.