Pennsylvania authorities ID gunman who killed 3 law enforcement agents David K. Li September 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM 2 First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting involving police officers on Wednesday in North Codorus, Pa.
- - Pennsylvania authorities ID gunman who killed 3 law enforcement agents
David K. Li September 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
2
First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting involving police officers on Wednesday in North Codorus, Pa. (Matt Slocum / AP)
The man who gunned down three detectives in central Pennsylvania had been wanted for allegedly stalking a former girlfriend and broke into her house before ambushing the lawmen, authorities said Thursday.
Police had been on the lookout for 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth in hopes of arresting him for alleged stalking, prowling and trespassing, according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday.
"Matthew J. Ruth is the actor" who fatally shot three officers, York County DA Tim Barker told reporters on Thursday, vowing to never mention Ruth's name again.
The three fallen policemen were identified as Detective-Sgt. Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker and Detective Isaiah Emenheiser.
The prosecutor called this a result of "the hateful scourge of domestic violence."
"That is what brought us here, that is what brought law enforcement here, that is what started all the activity," Barker said.
The ongoing police search for Ruth took officers back to the ex-girlfriend's home on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
The front door was unlocked, Barker said, signaling that an intruder was inside because the girlfriend and her mother had locked up on their way out of the house for their own safety.
"Upon immediately opening the door, the actor repeatedly fired at the officers with multiple rounds from an AR-15 style rifle," Barker said.
That ambush unleashed a brutal firefight that ended in Ruth's death.
Barker declined to reveal if Ruth was killed by other police at the scene or if he died at his own hand.
"Following the final exchange of fire the actor became deceased," Barker said. "So I will leave it at that."
The deadly saga started late Tuesday night when police responded to reports of a man in camouflage, spotted looking through a home's windows with binoculars on Haar Road in North Codorus Township, which is about 110 miles west of central Philadelphia, the complaint said.
Trail cameras in the area spotted that prowler in camouflage and that home's resident, Julia Zumbrum, identified him as Ruth, who she had once dated, police said.
Back on Aug. 20, Zumbrum's pickup truck was set on fire and she "suspected her ex-boyfriend was the culprit," police said.
In still images, believed to be Ruth and taken from trail cameras, the man "had an AR-15 style rifle slung across his chest," according to the complaint.
Ruth and the former girlfriend had "only dated for a short period of time and Ruth had never been to her house, nor had he ever been invited there," the complaint said.
Police went back to the ex-girlfriend's home on Wednesday to "see if they could provide ultimate safety," Barker said.
"And rather than being able to provide ultimate safety, they wound up having to provide ultimate sacrifice," the prosecutor added.
Had the former girlfriend and her mother returned home before police, they would have been the slain victims, officials said.
The family's dog, a black labrador retriever, was also killed by Ruth.
"We have two lives of the residents there that are saved today," Barker said. "Had they arrived home and not Northern Regional Police Department officers, they would have been killed immediately by the actor. Again, that is not speculation. That is the absolute only reasonable inference from all actions."
In addition to the three slain men, two more law enforcement officers were critically wounded, police said.
An initial search of law enforcement records did not yield any evidence that Ruth was ineligible to own firearms, Barker said.
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