By Tim Hahn
Erie Times-News
ERIE COUNTY, Pa. — Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers responding to a Girard Township roadway to investigate reports from two 911 callers about a man described as “acting funny” and looking “really suspicious” and “scary” encountered a man near the Norfolk Southern Railroad crossing along Elk Park Road late Thursday afternoon.
One of the callers said the man was reaching in his pocket, like he was possibly reaching for a gun.
As the troopers arrived, one from the north and one from the south, dashboard camera video from their patrol vehicles showed the man running toward one of the vehicles, his arms outstretched and pointing with an item in his hands. The man fell to the ground when one of the troopers fired his gun twice, got up and fell again when the trooper fired two more shots.
Matthew D. Orrenmaa, 36, of Conneaut, Ohio, was taken to UPMC Hamot, where he was pronounced dead early that evening.
Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri played the two 911 calls and the video from the dashboard cameras of both patrol vehicles in outlining the details of the incident that led to the fatal shooting during a news conference in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday afternoon.
Daneri said he determined following an investigation by himself and Erie County detectives that the actions of the trooper who shot Orrenmaa were justified.
“I reached a conclusion that the firing of the first two shots, as well as the second two shots when Mr. Orrenmaa sprung up, constituted deadly force,” Daneri said. “I also find that the trooper’s use of deadly force under these circumstances, which resulted in the death of Matthew Orrenmaa, his actions were reasonable and they were lawful, and accordingly no criminal charges are warranted.”
An autopsy determined that Orrenmaa died of a gunshot wound to the trunk. Daneri said he was shot once in the abdomen and once in the leg.
Officials are still awaiting the results of toxicology testing, Daneri said.
The two troopers were placed on paid administrative leave for three days after the shooting. They are now on restricted administrative duty and will remain so while state police conduct its own internal investigation into the shooting, said Lt. Todd Post, crime section supervisor for state police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township.
The trooper who shot Orrenmaa has been a state police trooper for a little more than a year. The other officer at the scene was a state police corporal with nine years on the job who has been a supervisor for two months, Post said.
Daneri and state police did not name the officers.
Daneri said the item Orrenmaa was holding when he ran toward the trooper who shot him was discovered to be a black-and-silver electric razor. The trooper who shot Orrenmaa said he saw something black and silver in Orrenmaa’s hands, and the corporal said he saw something black in Orrenmaa’s hands, Daneri said. Both indicated they believed it was a firearm, he said.
The razor was found near Orrenmaa’s body after he was shot. Also found near his body was a note that Daneri said Orrenmma is believed to have pulled out of his pocket.
The handwritten note, which Daneri showed at the news conference, contained Orrenmaa’s name and was written to “loved ones.” It stated that he was sorry “for all I have drug you through,” and asked his children not to be disappointed.
Investigators additionally found Orrenmaa’s truck near the shooting scene, Daneri said. The interior windows of the truck were spray-painted black, and inside the truck was a note, dated Aug. 17, from the Cleveland Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center indicating that Orrenmaa was treated for suicidal ideations, Daneri said.
Orrenmaa was a disabled veteran who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq, according to information in his obituary posted on the website of the Marcy Funeral Home in Conneaut.
Daneri said he reviewed all of the evidence in the case as part of his office’s investigation, including audio interviews of the troopers. Both troopers were interviewed on Tuesday morning, he said.
Daneri said he based his decision that the shooting was justified on the information from the 911 calls, the actions of Orrenmaa at the scene and the evidence collected and reviewed.
The troopers involved in the incident indicated they had had no previous dealings with Orrenmaa before Thursday afternoon. It was unknown how long Orrenmaa had been in the area, but Post said state police learned that Orrenmaa had stayed with his father in Conneaut the night before.
Daneri said he attempted to contact Orrenmaa’s father to let him know of Tuesday’s news conference. He said he was unable to speak to the father but left a message on his answering machine.
Orrenmaa’s father and other members of his family declined to comment or could not be reached for comment Tuesday.