NORTH CODORUS, Pa. (AP) — Police returning to a home in the rolling farmland of southern Pennsylvania in search of a suspected stalker who may have been trespassing encountered a barrage of gunfire that left three of them dead and two more wounded.

All three slain officers and a fourth who remains hospitalized worked for the Northern York County Regional Police Department, which called Wednesday a “dark and heartbreaking day.”

Neighboring departments stepped in Thursday to help shoulder the workload as agency personnel grieved.

The violence erupted Wednesday afternoon as officers sought Matthew James Ruth in a domestic situation that began a day earlier. A law enforcement official who identified the 24-year-old as the shooting suspect spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonym

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