A 35- year old homeless man is dead after an officer-involved shooting in Lancaster City on Monday morning. It happened around 7:15 a.m. along the first block of North Queen Street.
Police say the unidentified man was caught urinating and exposing himself in public. “These officers did not come to work this morning thinking they were going to have to shoot a subject that’s apparently deranged and charging them with a knife,” said Lancaster City Police Chief Keith Sadler.
Officers who made contact with the man say he was rambling and they could not understand him. “While the officer was checking the subject’s identification the subject reached into his pocket and pulled out a folding knife and charged at the officer,” said Chief Sadler. One officer fired a shot at the man but he took off running and was not hit. Officers attempted to stun him with a Taser during a foot pursuit but it had no effect, police said. “The taser, the barb did strike him. Apparently he was able to pull that out while he was running,” said Chief Sadler.
While chasing the suspect officers caught up with him again and police say the man again charged at officers with a folding knife. Police say they ordered him to drop the weapon several times but he refused.
One of the officers fired two more shots at him and struck him once in the torso. “If he was able to carry out his intentions he could have possibly fatally injured the three officers and the civilians who may have been there,” said Chief Sadler.
The man was taken to Lancaster General Hospital but he died during emergency surgery around 10 a.m.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s office is investigating to make sure the officers were justified in shooting the man. They are interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance footage that caught the initial confrontation. “There’s no question from looking at the video that he is [the suspect] at the police officer with a knife. And there’s no question that the officers, at least from what I can see, are doing nothing but standing there. In fact there is some distance between the officers and this individual before he decides to take his knife out and charge. I can describe to you, he’s aggressive and he’s charging, but when you see it, there is just no question about it,” said Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman. He says it appears as if the officer was justified in the shooting, but will make his final determination at a later time. At that time investigators will consider releasing the video to the public.
The officers involved were not hurt in the incident.