Police officer shot, killed during call; suspect in custody

31, of New Florence, shot St. Clair Township police Officer Lloyd Reed, 54, about midnight during a confrontation late Saturday in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania State Police said.

State police plan a news conference later today to discuss the fatal shooting of a western Pennsylvania police officer who responded to a domestic dispute.

Craig W. Floyd, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington, D.C., said Reed is the eighth officer this year killed while responding to a domestic call.

Online court records show Ray Shetler Jr. was charged Sunday with one count of criminal homicide. They say Officer Reed repeatedly asked Shetler to drop his weapon, Shetler did not, and fired three rounds, hitting Officer Reed. “The suspect was now carrying a long rifle and was refusing to put it down”. When she arrived, the woman, whom she called Shetler’s girlfriend, was on the ground, trying to assist the officer.

It is unclear, however, as to how any times Reed was shot by Shetler. He did not put it down, ” Limani said.

“This is another awful tragedy that brings to light how hard a police officer’s job can be on a daily basis”, Peck said.

Channel 11’s Lori Houy said a flag at the St. Clair Township Police Department was lowered to half-staff Sunday morning in memory of the fallen officer.

“You can clearly hear Miss Luther on the 911 tape tell Mr. Shetler that she had contacted police”.

Among the other police officers who died in the line of action is Perropolis Borough Police Officer Richard Champion, who died in December 2014 after a vehicle crashed into his cruiser, sparking flames while he was trapped inside. They were not permitted to see him, she said, when they went to the hospital where he was undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound.