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Three police officers were shot dead and two wounded on Wednesday in southern Pennsylvania in the United States before the attacker was shot down, authorities said.
It was one of the deadliest days for police, not only in Pennsylvania, but in the US, in recent times.
Here is what we know:
What happened in Pennsylvania?
The shooting took place a little after 2pm (18:00 GMT) on Wednesday at a farmhouse off a quiet country road a couple of miles outside an old mill town.
Police said the officers were there to serve a warrant. At a news conference, Christopher Paris, the state police commissioner, explained that they were following up on an investigation that began the day before, but he shared few other details.
“The general heading of that investigation, I would say, would be domestic-related,” Paris added.
The emergency response unfolded on a rural road. Officers were keeping people well back from the scene, with some 30 police vehicles blocking off roads.
Where did the shooting take place?
The shooting took place along Haar Road in North Codorus Township, a farming community in York County.
It is located about 115 miles (185km) west of Philadelphia, not far from the Maryland border, authorities said.
The shooting also prompted a temporary shelter-in-place order for a school district in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, a town of roughly 2,500 residents. Officials later clarified that no schools were affected.
What do we know about the suspect?
CNN, quoting law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation, reported that the suspect was the ex-boyfriend of a woman living in the farmhouse where the shooting occurred. The officials told the network that, a day earlier, the woman had alerted local police after seeing the accused in a nearby cornfield.
According to the report, the police obtained an arrest warrant but were not able to find the suspected attacker.
First responders work the scene after several people were injured during a shooting [Matt Slocum/AP Photo]What do we know about the victims?
Authorities did not provide many details surrounding the victims, either.
Two surviving officers were transported to WellSpan York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, and were currently in critical but stable condition, Paris said.
Images from the scene showed an officer being airlifted by a medical helicopter.
“This is an absolutely tragic and devastating day for York County and the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said during a press briefing.
“We grieve the loss of life of three precious souls who served this county, who served this commonwealth, who served this country.”
“This kind of violence is not OK. We need to do better as a society,” Shapiro said.
A police officer is loaded into a Medevac helicopter [Harrison Jones/USA Today Network via Reuters]What is the broader picture of violence against officers in the area?
This marked one of the darkest days for Pennsylvania law enforcement in recent years. Back in 2009, three Pittsburgh officers were shot dead in an ambush while responding to a domestic disturbance by a man wearing a bulletproof vest.
More recently, in February, another officer in the state was killed after a man armed with a pistol and zip ties stormed a hospital’s intensive care unit, taking staff hostage before a shootout left both the suspect and the officer dead.
Nationally, the killings also represent among the deadliest single incidents for police officers since the September 11, 2001 attacks. In April this year, four officers were killed in Charlotte, North Carolina; three were killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; five in Dallas, Texas, in separate incidents in July 2016; four were killed in Lakewood, Washington, in November 2009; and four in Oakland, California, in March 2009.
Shapiro ordered all US and Pennsylvania flags on public buildings across the state to be lowered to half-staff in memory of the officers killed in the Wednesday attacks.
