Court documents are revealing new details about what happened at a York County farm the day before a shooting left three police officers and a suspect dead, and two other officers critically wounded.
UPDATE: York County District Attorney Tim Barker and Pennsylvania State Police will hold a news conference Thursday at 3 p.m. WGAL will carry it live on air and online.
Note: The documents do not discuss Wednesday’s shooting. They detail events that happened at the property along Haar Road near Emig Road in North Codorus Township on Tuesday.
Docs: Trail camera video, AR-15 rifle
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were called to the farm after a woman called them saying there was a “male on her property with binoculars looking into the residence through a window.”
The woman told police the person was wearing camouflage and she could see him through a trail camera standing in her driveway, according to investigators.
An officer who went to the farm did not find the person, but did find a black 2000 Ford Ranger pick-up truck parked along the road near a line of woods. The woman who initially called told police she thought the person on the property may have arrived in a black pickup.
Docs: Vehicle set on fire
After finding the pickup, the officer spoke to a mother and daughter on the farm. The daughter said on Aug. 20, someone had set her pickup truck on fire while it was in the driveway, according to the affidavit.
“She advised at the time she suspected her ex-boyfriend was the culprit, but she wasn’t sure and requested the matter not be investigated,” the affidavit states.
The mother then showed the officer a still photo from her trail camera that showed the person wearing all camo, standing behind her daughter’s truck, according to the document.
“The male is looking through a scope device with it pointed towards the residence. At that time (the daughter) identified the male in the photo as her ex-boyfriend Matthew Ruth” the affidavit states. “(The daughter) advised they only dated for a short period of time and that Ruth had never been to her house, nor had he ever been invited there.”
The affidavit goes on to state that as other officers looked at the trail cam photograph, they noticed Ruth “also had an AR-15 style rifle slung across his chest while looking into the residence.”
Police looked for Ruth for several hours but did not find him.
Police then filed the affidavit and requested a warrant be issued for the arrest of Ruth on the following charges:
- Stalking
- Loitering and prowling at night
- Criminal trespass
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