Bethel man who fired on cops in standoff held
NETHER PROVIDENCE >> A Bethel Township man who allegedly fired at police officers during an hours-long standoff at his home on the 1500 block of Garnet Mine Road in December was held over for trial on all charges Friday by Magisterial District Judge Andrew Goldberg.
Terrence Zanchuck, 46, is charged with four counts each of attempted murder and assaulting a police officer, eight counts of aggravated assault, five counts of reckless endangerment, and two counts each of possessing an instrument of crime and person not possess a firearm.
Assistant District Attorney Gina Gorbey also added one count of terroristic threats before the preliminary hearing Friday morning, which was also held over for trial.
Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Detective John Hoffner testified that he had been called to the home of one of Zanchuk’s neighbors on the afternoon of Dec. 22 to investigate a bullet that had struck the house.
He said he was called back to the defendant’s home around 8 p.m. that night, however, where a command post had been set up to deal with a barricade situation. He was tasked with speaking to some officers involved in that standoff.
During that investigation, Hoffner said he learned Zanchuk had previously been involuntarily committed in January and July of 2016 for “severe mental disability” and was in need of treatment.
Bethel Officer Derek Klinger said he received a call about 6:40 p.m. for shots fired in the area. He spoke with a neighbor who indicated the shot was believed to come from Zanchuk’s property.
Klinger was with thentrainee Michael Oulouhojin and joined fellow Bethel Officer Louis Stackeni Jr. and Upper Chichester Officer Christopher Gaspari at Zanchuk’s home. There were three marked police cars in the driveway at that point and all except for Oulouhojin were wearing police uniforms, according to testimony.
Klinger said he knocked on the door loudly six or eight times but got no response and joined fellow officers by the cars, about 25 yards from the door. Zanchuck exited the residence and demanded to know who was on his property, according to Klinger.
Klinger said he identified himself and the other officers as law enforcement and said they wanted to speak to the defendant, but he told the officers they were trespassing and went back inside. Zanchuk came back out with what appeared to be a cell phone with its light on, either as a flashlight or recording, but again refused to speak to officers and went back inside, Klinger said.
Upper Chichester Police Officer Brian Gilmore arrived shortly after. About the time Gilmore was exiting his marked cruiser, also in uniform, Zanchuk allegedly emerged a fourth time, again with the cell phone/ flashlight and told the officers “Get off my property or I’m going to shoot the s—out of you guys.”
Klinger said at this point the officers strategically repositioned one car for cover and “geared up” with heavier rifles and bulletproof chest plates. Gaspari was sent around the side of the house and another officer was called into a cul-desac behind Zanchuk’s home.
Gaspari said he had hunkered down between two trees on the side of the property. At one point, he said he saw a window facing him open and heard a gunshot. He said he heard and felt debris from a bullet striking nearby and rolled off the edge of a nearby embankment after radioing that he believed that shot was meant for him.
Zanchuk allegedly opened the door and exited the home with a rifle in hand after the shot near Gaspari’s location. Gilmore, positioned against one of the police cars, said he radioed that Zanchuk was outside with a rifle.
Seconds after Zanchuk reentered the house, Gilmore said he heard a gunshot, felt the car move and heard a hissing sound. One of the tires on the car where he was positioned had been shot, he said.
“My left leg was less than a foot from the tire,” Gilmore told defense counsel Chuck Peruto.
Stackeni was also about 2 feet from the tire and Oulouhojin was about 10 feet away, according to their testimony. Stackeni said he saw the door to the house close after the shot that hit the car.
All of the officers said they were evacuated from the area as an emergency response team took over. County Detective Brian Alexander said he sent a bomb disposal robot to the door around 1:30 a.m. in an attempt to open it, but was unable to do so.
Alexander testified that as he was pulling the robot back to attach a pry bar device to gain entry, he was able to see the door open through a camera mounted on the robot. Zanchuk, bleeding from the head, came outside and sat on a chair by the front door, he said, where he was taken into custody without further resistance.
Alexander said the response team had fired “less lethal” rubber rounds into the house in an attempt to get Zanchuk out, but he did not know if one of the rounds had hit the defendant.
Found inside the home was a 30.06 Remington rifle with a magnifying scope, a box of ammunition, and several loose live rounds and fired cartridge casings, Alexander said.
Peruto argued that he did not object to the aggravated assault charges, but said there was no specific intent necessary to rise to the level of attempted homicide. He added the charge related to Gaspari should be reckless endangerment since it was never determined exactly where that bullet had struck.
Gorbey argued Zanchuk’s
comment that he was going to “shoot the s—-” out of the officers clearly indicated intent, and that in Gaspari’s case the shot was directed at his specific location.
The judge held Zanchuk on all charges, noting he had used some light from either a cell phone or flashlight to illuminate the officers and had a scope on the rifle, but reduced an initial 10 counts of reckless endangerment to five. Zanchuk is scheduled for formal arraignment March 11.
Peruto said after the hearing that he does not believe the case will go to trial but will likely go to some form of mental treatment court. He said his client claims he was not at the home at the time and that he “woke up” in the county prison some days later confused as to why he had been arrested.
“He said, ‘I wasn’t there. Maybe it was some guy that looked like me, but I wasn’t there,’” said Peruto. “I’m looking at the guy and he’s being sincere.”
Peruto said family members told him Zanchuk has shown signs of amnesia and been institutionalized before,
and he believes Zanchuk’s mental health issues were exacerbated by methamphetamine abuse. Zanchuk is receiving some medication at the prison, Peruto said, but even after Friday’s testimony, he still wanted to speak to officers and tell them he was not at home that day.
“I feel bad for the guy because of his deterioration, from what I understand was slow but sure,” Peruto said. “It’s got to go to mental health court in some respect … It’s not a dispute if you’re lucid of what happened. If you claim you weren’t even there, then it’s a mental health problem.”