1 dead after police-involved shooting at York Kmart

Police chief: Officers did right thing

UPDATED 10:56 PM EST Dec 29, 2012

This has to stop.  Chicago 500 deaths by gun violence. A 2 yr old dies because a father does not secure his firearm, and leaves it on a table.  Policemen are forced to shoot a man, because other people could have been harmed.  January 1, 2013 is just around the corner, and the murder rate will be zero again.  Who will be the first murder of the new year. What child will kill themselves because parents are irresponsible  and not secure their gun.  Which teenager will end up dead because of their race or because they had their music too load. When will this madness cease?  When will we be able to stop the killing, and protect life, and make it a priority?

 

SPRINGETTSBURY TOWNSHIP, Pa. —State police are investigating a shooting at a Kmart in Springettsbury Township Saturday night that left one person dead.

The incident happened around 7:30 p.m.The investigation is in the hands of State police since it was local police who did the shooting.
The chief of Springettsbury Township police says his officers were right when so much could have gone wrong.
“Well it was more like thinking this is not real, this is not happening to me. There were gunshots going off,” said Sue Baker, a resident who was shopping with her husband and baby.
Baker says the shots went off one after another, changing their whole night.
“I just dove into the back double doors and kind of hid with a bunch of other people who were back there,” said Baker.
She heard at least six shots in all, one killing a 40-year-old man who Springettsbury Township police say tried to rob the store at knife point. Police tried to use a stun gun him, but he went at them again. That’s when police opened fire.
Springettsbury Township police chief Thomas Hyers watched the security video. Even though this case is now out of his hands, he is certain his officers acted justifiably.
“We get paid to respond to things like this and I think the officers acted bravely, and they do all over the country. There were 127 officers murdered last year and it could have happened here again tonight,” said Hyers.
These officers have been placed on leave for the time being. The chief says they are doing fine, just a bit shaken up. The victim’s name has not been released. Police say he died at the hospital.



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