{"id":276830,"date":"2026-09-01T22:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276830\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:28:11","slug":"pennsylvania-police-officer-charged-in-killing-of-college-student-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276830\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania police officer charged in killing of college student"},"content":{"rendered":"

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) \u2014 A Pennsylvania police officer was charged Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter for last week\u2019s fatal shooting of a college student<\/a> who was looking for his friends late at night and went to the wrong house.<\/p>\n

Police body camera video reviewed by investigators shows the officer yelled \u201cDrop to the ground,\u201d then \u201cStop or I\u2019ll… .\u201d Before he finished the sentence, he fired two shots at the man who was unarmed and had his hands in the air. He hit 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV twice in the chest, killing him.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Pallbearers<\/p>\n

Pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

Pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

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The officer, Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, had less-than-lethal options and did not need to resort to shooting Pysher, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter,\u201d Steele said in a news release.<\/p>\n

An attorney for Pysher\u2019s family issued a statement thanking the prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney\u2019s office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son,\u201d said attorney Ken Fulginiti.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\n This booking photo provided by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, shows Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell. (Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office via AP)\n <\/p>\n

This booking photo provided by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, shows Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell. (Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office via AP)<\/p>\n

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\"This<\/p>\n

\n This undated photo provided by Erin Pysher shows Glenwood Pysher IV, who was fatally shot by police in Upper Pottsgrove Township, Penn. on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (Erin Pysher via AP)\n <\/p>\n

This undated photo provided by Erin Pysher shows Glenwood Pysher IV, who was fatally shot by police in Upper Pottsgrove Township, Penn. on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (Erin Pysher via AP)<\/p>\n

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Farrell turned himself in to the Montgomery County Detectives on Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Kathleen Rebar set bail at $75,000, and Farrell must turn in all weapons to the state police as a condition of his release, a spokesperson for the district attorney\u2019s office said. He has a preliminary hearing set for Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

Officer responds to 911 call<\/p>\n

Farrell was the first officer on the scene after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into the back door of a home. Farrell\u2019s body-worn camera showed the officer walking down the driveway with his gun drawn, using its light to illuminate the way, the release says.<\/p>\n

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Standing behind a car in the driveway, Farrell saw Pysher on the home\u2019s patio, near the back door. Farrell yelled, \u201cPolice, let me see your hands.\u201d Then he yelled, \u201cHands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Glenwood<\/p>\n

Glenwood Pysher III, watches as pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of his son Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed by police, in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

Glenwood Pysher III, watches as pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of his son Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed by police, in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

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Pysher is seen on video raising his hands as he began walking toward the officer and continuing to walk in that direction as the officer yelled, \u201cDrop to the ground,\u201d the release said. Farrell again yelled, \u201cDrop to the ground,\u201d then yelled, \u201cStop or I\u2019ll \u2026\u201d But before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest, the district attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release says.<\/p>\n

Farrell told another officer who arrived after the shooting that Pysher had charged him, \u201cscreaming and yelling and wouldn\u2019t get down on the ground,\u201d but the body-worn camera video doesn\u2019t show that happening, according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Pysher\u2019s father believes son thought he was at a friend\u2019s house<\/p>\n

The investigation found that Pysher had been out at several bars earlier in the evening to celebrate a friend\u2019s 21st birthday. A designated driver drove the group to the home of the person whose birthday it was around 11 p.m., and Pysher left about half an hour later to walk half a mile to another friend\u2019s house to keep drinking but ended up at the wrong house, the release says.<\/p>\n

Pysher\u2019s father has said he believes, based on what his son\u2019s friends have told him, that his son tried to enter what he thought was his friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Mourners<\/p>\n

Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood \u201cBubba\u201d Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe tried to open the doorknob and obviously startled the homeowner,\u201d Glen Pysher told The Associated Press last week. \u201cFrom what we understand, he announced, \u2018Hey! Open the door!\u2019 because he thought he was at his friend\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son then sat down on the back porch and contacted his friends, who realized he was in the wrong place and set out to find him, the father said.<\/p>\n

Arrests of officers in other cases<\/p>\n

Bowling Green State University criminal justice professor Philip Stinson maintains a nationwide database of roughly 25,000 cases of police officers arrested since 2005.<\/p>\n

According to Stinson\u2019s data, 218 local sworn police officers had been charged with murder or manslaughter in an on-duty fatal police shooting between January 2005 and the end of July 2026. There are several cases still pending, but to date, 78 officers have been convicted of a crime in those shootings, while 107 have been acquitted or had their cases dismissed.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, 10 officers had been charged in that time, six of whom were convicted.<\/p>\n

Stinson said there are fluctuations in the number of officers charged over the years, but given there are close to a thousand fatal police encounters every year, those fluctuations seem statistically insignificant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are ugly cases. The facts are never easy,\u201d Stinson said. \u201cGrand juries seem to have a similar issue as criminal jurors. They are very reluctant to second guess the split-second, often life or death decisions of an on-duty police officer in a potentially violent street encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The majority of officers charged in on-duty fatal shootings shot an unarmed person. In the 78 convictions, only 10 of the victims were armed with a gun at the time of the shootings.<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

Brumback reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) \u2014 A Pennsylvania police officer was charged Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter for last week\u2019s fatal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31,116048,38,114778,116047,758,457,116049,116050,9904,1856,40,28,30,29,6803,44,109],"class_list":["post-276830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-crime","tag-earl-pysher-iv","tag-general-news","tag-glen-pysher","tag-glenwood-earl-pysher-iv","tag-gun-violence","tag-homicide","tag-kathleen-rebar","tag-ken-fulginiti","tag-kevin-steele","tag-law-enforcement","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-shootings","tag-u-s-news","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}