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Man shot after pointing gun at police in Richland Township

RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man was shot by an officer Thursday morning after he pointed a gun at police who responded to a home in Richland Township, authorities said.

Channel 11 got a hold of the criminal complaint Thursday afternoon.

A neighbor called police around 6 a.m. after hearing a woman screaming in a Meridian Road neighborhood, and when they ran over to help, she said "don't come over here or he will murder you too."

When police arrived, the woman was found bleeding from head wounds and her husband of 35 years, 63-year-old Phillip Keil, was outside the home.

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The first officer to arrive at the scene pulled the woman to safety after she crawled, screaming and crying, to his car. Keil fled back into the home, police said.

“I couldn’t believe it," said neighbor Linda McCully. "I have never heard of them fighting."

The woman told police she had been standing at the kitchen sink when she felt an impact on the back of her head -- she told them it was a "large wooden stick."

Additional Northern Regional officers called Keil out of the home, but he initially refused. Police said that when he did come out onto the porch, he was told to show his hands, at which point he raised a gun.

“Keil pulled the weapon out from behind his back and pointed the weapon directly at the police sergeant,” according to the police complaint.

When he ignored further orders to drop the weapon, officers opened fire, hitting Keil in the arm and abdomen, according to the report. He later told police, "It was a toy gun, a black BB gun."

Keil was taken to a hospital, though his condition was not immediately available. His wife was also taken to the hospital.

"I can’t wrap my mind around that," McCully said. "They were close, they were good people."

The officers who fired the shots are on administrative leave with pay, standard procedure in a police shooting.

 

Cox Media Group

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