Domestic violence call spurred bloody ambush on 5 Pennsylvania officers
(NewsNation) — The gunman who shot five police officers, killing three, in an ambush in Pennsylvania had been stalking his ex-girlfriend and was found inside her home, police say.
The shooter, identified as Matthew James Ruth, briefly dated the woman and was stalking her and her property, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said Thursday.
Officers knocked on the woman’s door searching for Ruth Wednesday. The gunman, armed with an AR-style rifle with a suppressor, opened the door and shot and killed Sergeant Detective Cody Becker, Detective Isaiah Emenheiser and Detective Mark Baker.
“The officers involved with this incident went to a home to protect a woman and her children. They encountered a force of evil, hell bent on taking lives,” Barker said.
“There is one motive that is clear for everything, and that is the hateful scourge of domestic violence. That is what brought us here. That is what brought law enforcement here. That is what started all the activity.”
The surviving officers were in critical condition as of Thursday.
Domestic violence call turns deadly for Pennsylvania officers
“This began as an incident of domestic violence,” Baker said as he stitched together a timeline of the deadly ambush based on an initial finding of fact.
The mother of Ruth’s ex-girlfriend called police Tuesday, telling them she spotted him on a trail camera dressed in camouflage looking through a window of her home with binoculars.
An officer responded to the call but did not find Ruth. The officer did see a black 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck parked along the road that was flagged as belonging to him by the mother.
“She advised at the time she suspected her ex-boyfriend was the culprit, but she wasn’t sure and requested the matter not be investigated,” Baker said. “She stated that they had dated for only a short period of time, and that the [Ruth] had never been to her house, nor had ever been invited there.”
Upon examining the trail camera footage, police saw an AR-15–style rifle across Ruth’s shoulder, he added. When asked, Baker said investigators did not find any prior criminal convictions that would deem Ruth as a person unable to possess a firearm.
Deadly exchange of fire with Matthew James Ruth
Police quickly began searching for Ruth with a warrant for his arrest under charges including stalking and loitering and prowling at night, Baker said.
After searching his home, officers returned to the property belonging to Ruth’s ex-girlfriend, and that is where the “murderous rampage” of bullets began, he said.
Ruth had been hiding out at the home ostensibly waiting for the ex-girlfriend and her family, Baker said: “Upon immediately opening the door, [Ruth] repeatedly fired at the officers with multiple rounds from an AR-15-style rifle with the suppressor immediately striking Detective Baker, striking Detective Sergeant Becker, striking at Detective Emenheiser.”
All three went down, he said.
Remaining officers began an exchange of fire, leading to two other officers being injured. Ruth then went up the roadway, continuing to fire. That is where a deputy sheriff returned bullets that eventually killed the gunman.
“I can conclude by all reasonable inferences from all information, without speculation, had [the ex-girlfriend and her family] arrived home and not Northern Regional Police Department officers, they would have been killed immediately by [Ruth],” Barker said.
A community in pain
The loss of the officers has devastated the community, Baker said, but it also shows their strength.
“We are a great community. We are a safe community. We are a loving community. We are there for each other, and we need to be together to be love and light, and we will demolish hate and darkness by doing so,” he said.
