Neighbors ‘stunned’ after authorities name man suspected of killing three officers
Police visited the home of the man accused of killing three York County police officers about two hours before they were ambushed in North Codorus Township. Officers swarmed the neighborhood in hours following the shooting as the investigation intensified.
EAST PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
Detectives arrived at the home of Matthew Ruth Wednesday afternoon, searching for him in connection to a stalking case — a visit authorities say took place only a couple of hours before he ambushed and killed three police officers.
Ruth, who was killed in return fire by police, lived at a home on Hall Drive in Penn Township, York County, according to court documents. Neighbors say he lived there with his parents.
After communicating with Ruth’s family and learning that Ruth wasn’t at the home, police said the detectives then went to the residence of his ex-girlfriend, who had identified Ruth as the man spotted the evening prior on a trail camera peering into her mother’s home in North Codorus Township with an AR-15 slung across his body.
That residence is where the ambush occurred on Wednesday, shortly after 2 p.m.
“The door was open and upon immediately opening the door, the actor repeatedly fired at the officers with multiple rounds from an AR-15 style rifle with the suppressor,” said York County District Attorney Tim Barker during a Thursday news conference.
Three Northern York County Regional Police Department detectives, identified as Det. Sgt. Cody Becker, Det. Mark Baker and Det. Isaiah Emenheiser, were fatally shot. Another detective with the same department was seriously injured, as was a sheriff’s deputy assisting with the arrest.
In the hours following the shooting, police swarmed the neighborhood where Ruth lived, startling neighbors as investigators collected evidence at the home.
One neighbor said he was surprised to see Ruth as the suspected gunman in the police killings, but not that he’d been involved in a crime.
“I wouldn’t have been surprised if he got into trouble,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified.
For many, the revelation that Ruth was the suspect in the police killings was unnerving, especially because of the intense activity of law enforcement around the neighborhood in the hours after the shooting.
“I was stunned,” said Mark Ruppert, who lived down the road from Ruth. “Very unexpected. A sign of the times. You just have to keep praying.”
Bodycam footage released in deadly January shootout involving Raleigh police officers
Saturday, May 31, 2025
The shooting involving Raleigh Police Officer Max Gillick happened in January in the Renaissance Park neighborhood in south Raleigh.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The Raleigh Police Department released body-cam footage of the deadly January shootout that happened in the Renaissance Park neighborhood in south Raleigh.
On Jan. 21, officers shot and killed Antonio Joseph Rodrigues, who had shot and critically injured Raleigh First Class Officer Max Gillick.
Gillick was released from the hospital in March.
Just days after the shooting, former Raleigh chief Estella Patterson praised Gillick, who was shot during a gunfire exchange with Rodrigues in a Renaissance Park neighborhood.
“He’s a hero. Very heroic, very courageous,” she said on Jan. 24.
In April, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced that her office concluded that the use of force during the incident was justified and that no charges would be pursued against the officers.
Former Apex Police Chief Jason Armstrong said the moments of teamwork helped the officers control the situation.
“So one part in the video where one of the officers started to go outside, but another officer saw a door that led out from the garage, and that’s where the suspect was. So he started warning his other teammate, watch that door, watch that door. And those are the things that law enforcement trains on,” Armstrong said.
Thaddeus Johnson with the Council on Criminal Justice says the fact they even still found a way to give the suspect verbal commands even as he was shooting at them, shows for them it was a last resort, and that handling things by the book, made a tense situation end peacefully for the community.
“Come to find out, the gentleman also had an ammunition belt so it’s possible that the officers, had they gone in by themselves without backup and that and the specialized unit, they could have possibly been outgunned and we could have been having a totally different conversation today,” Johnson said.
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Shooting Timeline
The DA’s report revealed a tense, dramatic scene that day.
Police arrived on the scene about 5:40 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the 600 block of Democracy Court in response to a burglary call that was upgraded to a shooting call. They responded after the homeowner called 911 and said she and her boyfriend were packing moving boxes when her ex-husband, later identified as Rodrigues, showed up and broke into the home.
According to the district attorney’s findings, Rodrigues used a stun gun on the boyfriend, later identified as 73-year-old John Rowe, and then left and came back with a .44 caliber rifle, which he used to shoot into the house, striking Rowe. The homeowner was able to get out and run to a neighbor’s house.
When officers entered the home, they found Rowe on the floor with a gunshot wound. They soon found Rodrigues hiding behind a car in the garage. According to the investigation, Rodrigues ignored commands to drop his weapon and began firing at officers. RPD Officer Henry returned fire but retreated into the house because he thought he had been hit.
Meanwhile, Gillick stayed with Rowe and worked to move him into a screened-in porch out of the line of fire. As RPD’s Selective Enforcement Unit arrived, Rodrigues continued to sporadically shoot at officers.
The SEU team used a BearCat armored vehicle to smash into the garage and used a flashbang device. That flushed Rodrigues from the garage. Police bodycam video showed him going back into the house and firing his rifle at Gillick, critically wounding the officer, who was still tending to the injured Rowe. At that point, multiple officers fired at Rodrigues, killing him.
Investigators found a Rossi Model R92 .44 caliber lever-action rifle under Rodrigues’ body. They also found a Polymer 80 “ghost gun” handgun and an Orion flare gun in the garage where Rodrigues had fired numerous rounds.
