Editorial

Every officer's nightmare

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

A Penn Township, Pa., constable was serving an eviction notice when the man in the apartment closed the door, and opened it again, aiming a .223-caliber rifle at the officer.

Constable Steele, who was in uniform, pulled his .40 caliber duty weapon and fired a single round, striking the subject in his upper left arm.

Behind the man in the apartment was his 12-year-old daughter, who spent the day home from school because she was ill.

The bullet struck the girl, and she died at the scene.

The father was flown to a hospital via helicopter, and has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and reckless endangerment.

The constable is "very distraught" and has chosen to "suspend his work" during the police investigation, according to officials.

One of the most common, legitimate reasons for owning a weapon is defending one's home, but that doesn't apply to disrupting the legal process, which has to be settled in a court of law.

In this case, the presence of a firearm only escalated a tense situation into a tragedy.

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