Prosecutor says stalking suspect ambushed Pennsylvania police officers,
killing 3
[September 19, 2025]
By MARK SCOLFORO, TASSANEE VEJPONGSA and MARC LEVY
NORTH CODORUS, Pa. (AP) — A suspected stalker armed with a rifle hid
inside his ex-girlfriend's home in the rolling farmland of southern
Pennsylvania and ambushed police officers who came to arrest him,
killing three of them in a shootout, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Two other officers were seriously wounded before police shot the suspect
to death in a hail of gunfire that capped a 15-hour ordeal after a trail
camera captured an image of the suspect, armed with an AR-style rifle,
peering through a scope into the house Tuesday night.
How the shooting unfolded
The ex-girlfriend and her mother called the police and then fled the
house for their safety after officers dispatched Tuesday night were
unable to find him there. Police didn't find him at his own home so
arrived back at the house Wednesday afternoon.
Using a drone, six officers scoured the property, including farm
buildings, before they noticed the door to the home was unlocked — even
though the ex-girlfriend and her mother had locked it before fleeing.
Four plainclothes detectives from the Northern York County Regional
Police Department wearing bulletproof vests opened the door and were
immediately fired on by the suspect, 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, who
was carrying an AR-style rifle with a suppressor, York County District
Attorney Tim Barker said.
Barker said he believed that Ruth had planned to ambush his
ex-girlfriend before the detectives walked in.
Ruth fired numerous rounds, killing three of the officers at the door
and seriously wounding the fourth, Barker said. A gunfight then ensued
between Ruth and two officers outside. Ruth wounded a York County
sheriff's deputy before he and another Northern York County Regional
officer shot the gunman to death by the road, Barker said.
Detective Sgt. Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker and Detective Isaiah
Emenheiser were killed, he said.
“Each of these men represented the best of policing. They served with
professionalism, dedication and courage. They were leaders within our
agency, committed to protecting this community and standing beside their
follow officers,” Chief Dave Lash said.
All three slain officers were long-time veterans of the nearly
70-officer force, with almost six decades of combined service. Baker,
53, had served 21 years after spending time as a police officer in
Philadelphia; Becker, 39, had served 16 years; and Emenheiser, 43, had
served 20 years.
The wounded detective and sheriff's officer remained hospitalized, one
of whom is in critical but stable condition Thursday.
What happened before the shootout
When the ex-girlfriend's pickup truck mysteriously caught fire one night
in August, she suspected Ruth was behind it, but she asked police not to
investigate, Barker said.
Instead, she and her mother put up the trail camera and, nearly a month
later, called police when they discovered an image of him wearing
camouflage and peering into the house through what Barker called a
scope-like device.
With misdemeanor warrants for his arrest, police went looking for Ruth.
Investigators went to Ruth's home in Hanover, about 10 miles (16
kilometers) from where the officers were killed, and talked to relatives
earlier Wednesday, Barker said. He wasn't there, so they left to try the
ex-girlfriend's home again.
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Attendees react during a vigil at Spring Grove Alliance church
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Spring Grove, Pa., after multiple
police officers were shot and killed. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Barker said he couldn’t immediately say how Ruth got into the
ex-girlfriend's house, but he said Ruth had “carefully surveilled
the entire residence and the outbuilding areas” and even shot and
killed the family dog, a black Labrador, after he entered the home.
Detectives returned to Hanover after the shooting and left with
several bags of potential evidence, neighbor Rose Miller said. She
didn’t know Ruth well, but remembered him working on Boy Scout
fundraisers.
A community mourns
On Thursday night, a couple hundred people gathered for a vigil
honoring the officers at a church in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania,
some wiping away tears as pastors led prayers and hymns and a woman
sang “Amazing Grace.” Community members wrote messages on stones and
arranged them under a table displaying five lit candles.
“We need to do better as a society,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said
Wednesday evening. “We need to help the people who think that
picking up a gun, picking up a weapon is the answer to resolving
disputes.”
It was one of the state’s deadliest days for law enforcement this
century, matching the toll from a shooting in 2009 when three
officers were ambushed by a domestic violence suspect sporting a
bulletproof vest.
Community members held American flags and saluted as police and
emergency vehicles formed a procession to the coroner’s office, and
people left flowers outside the slain officers' headquarters.
The confrontation unfolded on a rural road in North Codorus, about
46 miles (75 km) north of Baltimore. Neighbor Dirk Anderson heard
“quite a few” shots from his home across the street and wondered
what was happening. Then he saw a helicopter and police arrive.
In all, some 30 police vehicles arrived, blocking off roads bordered
by a barn, a goat farm and soybean and corn fields.
“It’s strange walking down this road now and seeing all these cars
and knowing what happened here,” said Bryan Rice, who lives nearby
and regularly walks the road with his wife.
Barker declined to ponder the gunman's “full profile,” but said one
thing was apparent.
“There is one motive though that is clear for everything. And that
is the hateful scourge of domestic violence," he said. "That is what
brought us here. That is what brought law enforcement here.”
___
Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
___
Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C.;
Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence,
Rhode Island; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Audrey McAvoy in
Honolulu contributed to this report.
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