Police shooting in Upper Pottsgrove kills 22-year-old college student after mistaken address
A Upper Pottsgrove Township police officer fatally shot Glenwood Pysher IV, 22, after he rang the doorbell of a house he believed to be his friend's, prompting a district attorney investigation.
A police officer in Upper Pottsgrove Township, Pennsylvania, shot and killed 22-year-old Glenwood Pysher IV early Sunday after the young man rang the doorbell of a residence he thought was a friend’s house. The incident occurred around 12:30 a.m. on Snyder Road, where officers responded to a 911 call reporting a possible attempted break-in.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said the Montgomery County Detective Bureau is leading the investigation and that surveillance footage from the backyard is being reviewed.
"Upper Pottsgrove Township Police responded to a 911 call for a possible attempted break-in at a residence on Snyder Road. The police arrived to find a male, Glenwood Pysher IV, in the rear of the residence. An encounter ensued and police fired at Pysher, fatally striking him," Steele said.
Pysher, a senior at Saint Elizabeth University in New Jersey, had been out celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday. According to his mother, Erin Pysher, he mistakenly went to the wrong address, rang the doorbell, knocked on the back door and called his friends for assistance. The friends reportedly told him he was at the wrong house and were on their way to pick him up when police arrived.
Erin Pysher said officers later visited her home to confirm the identity of the deceased and informed her that her son had been shot twice. The family has received limited information from law enforcement and is relying on friends and cell-phone records to piece together the timeline.
The shooting is being treated as an officer-involved incident, and the district attorney’s office will release further findings after the investigation concludes.