A police officer fatally shot while responding to a domestic dispute was 100 percent justified in shooting at the slaying suspect, a state police spokesman said Monday.
Advertisement
For anyone interested in making a donation, checks can be made payable to the Officer Lloyd Reed Jr.
Mr. Shetler told state police in an interview at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center that he did not know Officer Reed was a police officer.
Shetler was being treated for a gunshot wound to the right shoulder and was under state police guard at a hospital, Trooper Stephen Limani said.
She sustained minor injuries, Limani said.
Shetler was found after a six-hour manhunt while he was walking near a power plant outside of New Florence at 3 a.m. New Florence is located 56 miles east of Pittsburgh, USA Today reported.
Reed was a 25-year-veteran of the department.
Police say he was shot in the torso with a rifle. Police had advised residents in New Florence to lock the doors and windows of their homes and vehicles. Limani says a warrant will be obtained Sunday for Shetler’s arrest.
“In the last few years, ambush attacks aimed to kill or injure law enforcement officers have risen dramatically”, said FOP National President Chuck Canterbury, according to the New York Daily News.
Tom Wolf ordered United States and Pennsylvania flags to half-staff at state facilities across the county and at the Capitol Complex in Harrisburg. When she arrived, Luther was on the ground, trying to assist the fallen officer.
The girlfriend told police that Shetler returned fire only after the officer fired at him, and that he turned and ran when another officer from the nearby borough of Seward also fired at him, according to the complaint and the girlfriend’s subsequent comments to reporters.
Advertisement
“He said, ‘Expletive the police, ‘ to her”, Limani said.
