Authorities say a deputy US marshal shot and killed while serving a warrant in Pennsylvania was struck by a bullet fired through a wall by a fellow officer and not by a gunman who opened fire on police.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said Thursday that conclusion was made after laboratory tests were performed on material related to the January 18 death of Deputy Marshal Christopher Hill.
Chardo says 31-year-old Kevin Sturgis fired the first shot and that police were justified in shooting him to death outside the home in Harrisburg.
At the time, The Associated Press and other news outlets reported it was a bullet fired by Sturgis that killed the 45-year-old Hill.
The US Marshals Service says ballistics and forensics contradict those initial indications.
For weeks, investigators were working to piece together the chaotic sequence of events that led to Hill’s fatal shooting.
Authorities say 45-year-old Christopher Hill (above), a deputy US marshal shot and killed while serving a warrant in Pennsylvania, was struck by a bullet fired through a wall by a fellow officer and not by a gunman who opened fire on police
At the time, it was reported that a bullet fired by Kevin Sturgis (left) that killed the 45-year-old Hill. Law enforcement agents showed up at the home of Shayla Lynette Towles Pierce (right), 30, to arrest her on a charge of making a terroristic threat with a weapon
Colleagues remembered Hill, a military veteran, as the ‘cream of the crop.’
He was killed in the early morning hours of January 18 when a gunman opened fire on law enforcement officers serving an arrest warrant inside a Harrisburg home.
Police were on the first floor handcuffing the woman they were seeking to arrest when Sturgis, of Philadelphia, began firing from the second floor, said US Attorney Dave Freed.
Sturgis was fatally shot as he later ran out the front door, again firing at police, Freed said.
Hill died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the county coroner.
Another member of the fugitive task force, York City Police Officer Kyle Pitts, also was hit by gunfire, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
Freed said there were indications that a third officer may have been struck in his body armor, but was not wounded.
‘None of us has sufficient words to express our grief and sorrow,’ Freed said.
Officials said a team of about seven showed up at the home of Shayla Lynette Towles Pierce, 30, around 6am to arrest her on a charge of making a terroristic threat with a weapon.
They did not say what the relationship was between her and Sturgis.
Children also were at home at the time, Freed said.
Pierce was jailed on $200,000 bail, and a public defender who had recently represented her in a separate case declined to comment.
She did not appear to have a home phone listing.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said Thursday that conclusion was made after laboratory tests were performed on material related to the January 18 death of Hill, who was part of a team that was serving a warrant at a home in Harrisburg
Sturgis had active warrants in Philadelphia for not showing up to be sentenced on a gun charge and failing to appear at a probation violation hearing.
Hill and Pitts were removed from the back of the house during the confrontation after being shot.
Hill died at a hospital. Authorities said Pitts, a 10-year police veteran, required surgery but they did not further describe his injuries.
Hill, who is survived by a wife and two children, served with the US Army in Afghanistan before being hired by the marshal service in 2006.
US Marshal Martin Pane said Hill belonged to an elite special operations group within the agency and took a lead role in the massive manhunt in the Poconos for fugitive Eric Frein in 2014.
Frein was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death for killing a state trooper.
‘Chris is just one of those guys that rises to the top,’ Pane said.
‘Chris is the cream of the crop. He’s one of our best and … you would probably not find a better tactical operator in the state of Pennsylvania.’
Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said: ‘No words can adequately express the sadness we feel at this moment as we contemplate the loss of yet another law enforcement officer in the line of duty,’ Papenfuse said.
Gov. Tom Wolf ordered state flags to fly at half-staff in Hill’s honor.