By Larry King
The Philadelphia Inquirer
BUCK COUNTY, Pa. — Police shot and critically injured a man in his Bucks County home yesterday after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers.
Edward Snyder, 50, was wounded in an elbow and his groin, apparently by the same bullet, Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said. He was in critical but stable condition at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township.
The 2 p.m. shooting ended a three-hour armed standoff at a rented $600,000 house on Slack Road in Upper Makefield. Snyder’s family had summoned police during a domestic dispute, Henry said.
Snyder’s wife and two children, ages 18 and 20, met Upper Makefield police outside the house. The wife told police that Snyder had a gun and had fired it, Henry said.
Police heard him say, “You’re going to have to shoot me” and “The only way you can help me is to kill me,” the district attorney said.
Township police summoned a regional emergency response team, which surrounded the house.
“They observed him pacing back and forth at various locations inside the house, and handling both a rifle and a handgun,” Henry said. He “repeatedly ignored the police’s orders to place the weapons down and to come outside the house.”
Police were trying to coax Snyder out when he appeared at a bay window and pointed a rifle at several officers outside, Henry said. One fired a shot, felling Snyder.
“His actions forced the officer to use deadly force,” said Doylestown Township Police Chief Stephen White, a member of the response team. “He pointed the weapon at the officer.”
Upper Makefield police found no record of domestic violence at the address, White said.
No charges had been filed last night against Snyder.
County detectives were investigating the shooting and whether deadly force had been justified, Henry said.
Copyright 2008 The Philadelphia Inquirer