DA: Man Who Killed 3 Officers Was Hiding in Ex's Home

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, the AP reports. 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 the suspect 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.
• On Thursday night, a couple of hundred people gathered for a vigil honoring the officers at a church in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.
• The wounded detective and sheriff's officer remained hospitalized, one of whom was in critical but stable condition Thursday.
• 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.
• 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."