Three Detectives Killed, Two Wounded in York County Ambush

Three detectives were killed and two other officers critically wounded Wednesday in a rural ambush in North Codorus Township, York County, Pennsylvania, authorities said, after they went to arrest a 24-year-old man on stalking and related charges. The suspected shooter, identified by prosecutors as Matthew James Ruth of Hanover, was killed by responding officers following the exchange of gunfire, officials said.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker said detectives from the Northern York County Regional Police Department and a York County sheriff’s deputy went to the farmhouse of the suspect’s former partner to execute misdemeanor warrants related to stalking, trespassing and prowling. As plainclothes detectives wearing bulletproof vests opened an unlocked front door, Barker said, Ruth immediately opened fire with an AR-15–style rifle fitted with a suppressor, striking four detectives and wounding the sheriff’s deputy. Three detectives died at the scene; a fourth detective and the deputy were flown to a hospital and remained in critical but stable condition, authorities said.

Barker identified the three slain detectives as Detective Sergeant Cody Becker, 39; Detective Mark...