12-year-old fatally shot by police during Pennsylvania eviction

Police said that prior to the shooting on Monday, Donald Meyer, 57, opened the door to his home in Duncannon, north of Harrisburg, closed it on Constable Clarke Steele, and then reopened in and traded words with Steele before revealing a loaded.

The constable was serving an eviction notice to them Monday morning at their apartment in Penn Township, Pa., when the girl’s father protested and then pointed a rifle at his chest.

Despite the tragedy, Ron Rhode, who is related to Ciara by marriage, said today that the family feel sorry for Steele, adding: ‘I cried for that constable’. 40 caliber duty handgun and fired the single and fatal shot. The bullet, however, traveled through Meyer’s arm and hit 12-year-old Ciara, killing the young girl, who was standing directly behind her father during the confrontation. Donald Meyer was airlifted to Penn State Hershey Medical Center. They had been ordered to vacate the apartment by 10 a.m. on Monday, which is when Steele arrived to put them out, police said. In the meantime, the little girl’s father has now been charged with aggravated assault, making threats, simple assault and endangering another person, police said. Judge Daniel McGuire issued an order of possession at the end of December, and Steele was enforcing the eviction notice on behalf of the court.

“[Steele] is heartsick and heartbroken over the outcome”, Bill Stoeffler, of the Commonwealth Constables Association and a colleague and friend of Steele, told WPMT Tuesday night.

School psychologists and guidance counselors were on hand at Ciara’s Susquenita District school to assist grieving students and staff. A GoFundMe page has been created to help raise money to pay for Ciara’s funeral arrangements.

Donald Meyer knew the constable was coming, Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Hicks told WPMT. “It’s frightful, absolutely heartbreaking”, says a neighbor, who calls Ciara a “very kind, sweet kid“. 223 caliber rifle that had been ‘slung and concealed along his body’ at the constable’s chest. Rohde said that child protection agencies had investigated the family and that Ciara had at one time been taken from the home for several months.

Perry County district attorney Andrew Bender said investigations were ongoing into the incident.

Pennsylvania constables are not police officers but elected officials. Extra funds raised will be used to set up a scholarship fund against Domestic Violence and Mental Illness in the girl’s school district.