MAN FATALLY SHOT BY POLICE OFFICER

Montgomery County D.A. investigating shooting of armed man

POTTSTOWN » The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has launched an investigation of an officer-involved shooting in Pottstown that left a man dead.

At 11:25 p.m. Thursday, Pottstown Police responded to a wellness check for a suicidal man just a block from the police station at 40 E. High St., according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

Police were informed that the man had posted photos online of himself holding a gun to his head and threatening to harm himself, District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a press release.

When police arrived, officers encountered the armed man in the parking lot and confronted him, the D.A. said. At that time, an officer discharged his firearm and struck the man, according to the D.A. The man was then transported via medical helicopter to Reading Hospital Trauma Center in West Reading, where he was later pronounced dead, Steele said

A BB/pellet gun was recovered near the suspect, according to the district attorney’s office.

“Per policy, the name of the police officer involved as well as the suspect’s name are not being released at this time,” Steele said.

A Pottstown police officer was taken to Pottstown Hospital by Goodwill Ambulance with nonlife threatening injuries

sustained in the incident.

Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office investigators combed the scene behind the Guardian Apartments and a county forensics truck was still at the scene as of 8 a.m. Friday.

This incident is the third

officer-involved shooting in Montgomery County in the past two weeks. The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office announced an investigation into an officer-involved shooting in Norristown on Feb. 28, as well as one in Abington Township on March 5.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Pottstown and other area police officers at the scene of a police-involved shooting in the unit block of East High Street early Friday morning.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A Pottstown police officer, center, assists medics and firemen as they treat a man who was shot in a police-involved shooting in the unit block of East High Street early Friday morning. The male who was shot was flown by medical helicopter to Reading...