An investigation that brought police officers to a quiet country road in Pennsylvania on Wednesday originated with a phone call about a man who appeared to be stalking a former girlfriend.
It ended in an ambush.
In a case that has shaken the close-knit communities of York County, Pa., officials on Thursday detailed the sequence of events that led a gunman to fatally shoot three officers with a high-powered rifle and injure two others.
Officials identified the officers killed as Detective Sergeant Cody Becker and Detectives Isaiah Emenheiser and Mark Baker. The injured officers, who were not identified, remain hospitalized.
The authorities identified the gunman as Matthew J. Ruth, 24, of Hanover, Pa., who was fatally shot in the encounter in the township of North Codorus, just outside Hanover.
On the night before the shooting, Mr. Ruth had been spotted with binoculars outside the home of his former girlfriend and her mother, who had called the police, officials said.
Officers began searching for Mr. Ruth that night, but they did not find him until Wednesday afternoon. By then, he had been charged with stalking and trespassing. And he had made his way inside the home of the women, who had already fled for their safety, Timothy Barker, the district attorney for York County, said at a news conference Thursday.
When the officers entered the home, Mr. Ruth fired multiple rounds from an AR-15-style rifle with a suppressor, Mr. Barker said, and the fight later spilled outside. The entire encounter lasted for about two minutes before the gunman was killed.
While investigators were still working to determine the exact motive for the killings, Mr. Barker said, it was clear enough that the officers’ deaths were the result of “the hateful scourge of domestic violence.”
Studies of police responses have found that domestic violence-related calls lead to some of the most dangerous situations officers face.
A federal report from 2017 found that such calls were responsible for the highest number of officer fatalities of any category of police calls.
After the shooting on Wednesday, investigators also found that the gunman had killed the women’s dog. And according to court documents, his former girlfriend suspected him of setting her truck on fire last month.
All of the officers who died in the shooting had worked for the police department for Northern York County — a force with now just 65 officers. The department said in a statement that Wednesday had been “a dark and heartbreaking day,” adding that one of the two injured officers was also a member of the force. The other injured officer worked for the York County Sheriff’s Office.
For residents of York County, the shooting also brought back painful memories: Just seven months earlier, Andrew Duarte, a 30-year-old police officer in the county, was shot and killed after he responded to a hostage situation in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he had met with families of the officers who were injured. He also mentioned Officer Duarte.
“It’s an extraordinary thing that these law enforcement families do,” the governor said. “They support the individual who puts on the uniform and runs toward danger.”
The Northern York County Police said on Thursday that it had closed its administrative offices and was getting help from other departments, as well as the state police.
Just last week, the department had opened up a sparkling new facility in the city of York. Officers led members of the public on tours of the building, showing off a new evidence room, an airy meeting space and a forensic lab.
But by Thursday afternoon, mourners had adorned the building with flowers, flags and notes. “This hurts so badly,” said one message, left nestled on the ground between bouquets.
York is a community where everyone knows one another, said Jean Firestone, 71, who was at a memorial at the Northern York County Police Headquarters on Thursday.
“It’s just been a lot,” Ms. Firestone, who has lived in the area her whole life, said of the shooting. “Lately, there’s a real heaviness in the area.”
She said her grandson recently took a tour of the old police facility — guided by Detective Emenheiser.
David DeKok contributed reporting from York County, Pa. Rylee Kirk contributed reporting from New York. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Sonia A. Rao reports on disability issues as a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics across the country.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York.
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