An investigation found a Pennsylvania State Police trooper was justified in the shooting of a 26-year-old North Whitehall Township man during a January shoot-out.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced Thursday evening the results of an investigation into the Jan. 24 incident.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Barracks and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office Homicide Task Force.
It included a review of the incident recorded via drones employed by Pennsylvania State Police’s Troop M Barracks and police vehicle dashboard cameras, as well as body cameras worn by emergency responders.
Additionally, the DA reviewed photos of the autopsy and scene, as well as the law regarding use of force by law enforcement.
Holihan said a trooper is justified in using deadly force when he reasonably believes it’s necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or others. The trooper’s belief must be both objectively and subjectively reasonable, he added.
The footage showed the trooper, a member of the Special Emergency Response Team, firing a single shot, striking the man after an hours-long standoff outside a township home, authorities said.
The man has not yet been identified by the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office, which was awaiting the results of the investigation.
Troopers were called just after 11 a.m. Jan. 24 to the residence in the 2800 block of Rockdale Road for a reported armed man causing a disturbance.
State Police said the man was found sitting in a 2009 Toyota Camry parked in the driveway, armed with a loaded Walther .22 caliber semiautomatic handgun.
“(He) was acting in an erratic manner, and threatening to harm himself,” the DA’s office said.
The man ignored police commands to surrender and fired two shots in an undetermined direction, prosecutors said. Troopers observed the man point his firearm both at himself and in the direction of the troopers multiple times, the DA’s office said.
Family members reported the man was possibly suffering from a mental health event for the previous three days, during which he had been “paranoid and not sleeping,” according to Holihan.
At one point, the man put his hand up and began waving it in what the trooper interpreted to be a stance of, “Come and get me,” the DA’s office said.
The trooper learned via radio transmission that the man had removed the magazine from his pistol to check how many rounds it had, then reinserted it.
The man then rapidly raised his gun after checking the ammunition and also placed the Toyota into drive, pulling it forward before putting it back into park several times, the DA’s office said.
Immediately prior to the shooting, the man rapidly pointed the pistol with a strong two-handed grip in the direction of other troopers who were positioned directly in front of him, Holihan said.
“In order to prevent harm and/or death to the troopers within (the man’s) sight, the trooper engaged (the man) with one round …,” Holihan stated.
The standoff came to an end around 2 p.m. when the trooper shot the man. Troopers were able to remove the man from the Toyota, grab the weapon, and perform life-saving measures, the DA’s office said.
The man was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 7 p.m. that same day.
An autopsy revealed the man died from a gunshot wound to the head and the death was ruled a homicide, defined as death at the hands of another person, by Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio.
Holihan then ruled the shooting a “justified homicide.”
“The trooper’s actions were both objectively and subjectively reasonable (the man) posed an imminent risk of harm to himself and others on scene,” Holihan stated. “There were attempts to use less than lethal force, but such attempts were unsuccessful. (The man) had been provided numerous opportunities to surrender, but he refused.”
“The force used was limited to that which was necessary to end the threat and was effective in doing so. There is no question that (the man) initiated this incident, extended this incident and left no other option but for the trooper to take the action that he did,” Holihan added.