Man Fired Multitude Of Shots At Troopers
A Harrison Valley man was shot dead by a Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team member Sunday afternoon at his residence, after a standoff with troopers that started at 9:46 am and lasted into mid afternoon.
Joshua Wheeler, 30, of 200 School Street, Harrison Valley, PA, was killed.
At 9:46 am on Sunday, the Pennsylvania State Police station at Coudersport received a call reporting a man with a gun at the School Street residence.
Troopers responded to the residence and established a perimeter. During this time, Wheeler made threats towards troopers who were on the scene.
Numerous attempts throughout the course of the incident were completed to make contact with Wheeler in an attempt to peacefully resolve the situation.
Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team was notified and responded to the scene.
Read more at Solomon’s Words
12 Comments
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy… He was a redneck wife-beating white trash idiot – Sayonara douchebag -good riddance, and have a nice time in hell. I just hope his little daughter wasn’t there with him. He had full time “custody” if that’s what you want to call it.
You must be one of those people that opens her mouth and sh** rolls out !!!! What an awful thing to say about anyone,no matter what the circumstance — Josh was marias and toms son a human being. a father, brother a friend..This tragedy should never happen to any family..Maybe you should stop and think how you would feel if it happened to you…and pray for the family, instead of passing judgement..I will be praying for you !!
Was this a hostage situation or an unbalanced person with a gun that someone just called about it. Was there anyone in actual danger or did it escalate to a dangerous situation as the man felt cornered in his home not being allowed to talk to his uncles and likewise his family that wanted to talk to him were prevented from being able to talk to him?If the man was unstable, not allowing communications might very easily have been the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak. Why wasnt a different hostage negotiator called in? While the cops couldnt actually back off and would have been wrong to do so, couldnt they have reestablished a safe perimeter?
Now even though the man shot at a police vehicle, did that warrant lethal force?Was there any other way ? Why didnt they cool the situation down instead of escalating it ? Too close to shift change? Something sounds wrong by the way this all went down.
Not wanting police in excess danger, I still cant believe this was the only way the SP could have handled it, especially in Potter/Tioga counties as there are so many incompetent troopers in both counties, that they may have equally overreacted and maybe wanting the situation over, decided to go ahead and shoot him rather than trying other methods, like letting his relatives talk to him. They may have been able to save his life, now they have to bury him.I would want to know more of the particulars – maybe the cops were justified, but it doesnt seem that way with the information supplied.
it said the emergency response team was contacted. That sounds like they attempted to negotiate and the young cops in potter co would not have had the authority to make the decision to shoot. it sounds very justified to me. if you shoot at the police or police vehilce, you are attempting to shoot a cop and deserve to be taken in this manner.
Kar Whreack what give you say to judge someone only god can do that you say things about someone like that i feel sorry for you maybe he wasnt the greatest person but he has family that reads this.RIP Josh i will miss working and being friends with you.
This is a very said day for the town of hv. As for all of u ***wholes passing judgement on him, thats wrong. what happened in his past is none of your concern. Its what happened today that matters, and what happened is not right. Im sure you guys dont even really no him like everyone else did. Everyone has their bad times, and if u are from harrison vly, youv’e done something wrong in your life. so who are u to jugde!! Its wrong that the police wouldnt let him talk to his family im sure thats all it wouldve taken to calm him down. whether he shot at a car or not he felt threatened to. i mine who wouldnt when a bunch of swat cars and officers come up to your house like they did… they should get charged with something just because they handled it bad. i new him and his family and they are good people, i will be praying for you all. i wish the best
RIP josh wheeler
hey lady, get a f****** grip…the guy shoots a high powered rifle at a state police car & endangered the entire block….he fires like 60 rounds & the cops fired 1…end of story…
This is a really tragic, heartbreaking story, for the family of Josh Wheeler, and Josh himself. I feel the PA state police did what they needed to do to keep the people around them safe and themselves. Could it have been handled better? Maybe. Did things quickly spiral out of control? Definitely. There are many stories going around that the police wouldn’t let his family in to talk to him, and that is really sad, but also, we’ve all seen in the news families killed when a family member is this disturbed and distraught. He obviously was not in his right mind during this incident. Josh had a history of alcohol abuse and violence. The police had to use extreme caution, he had an AK47 (an ASSAULT weapon) and was shooting and yelling and eventually began shooting at the police. I’m sure he felt trapped when the police showed up and when it quickly escalated to SWAT teams, of course, he’s going to freak out. In the last hour, It was his choice to shoot at the police and their eventual choice to shoot back. He could have killed others in the process, thankfully no one else was hurt. I grew up with Josh and believe that he had a good heart amongst his problems, I really think he needed help for his alcohol abuse and violence and probably going to jail for those DUI’s would have been the best thing for him to get over his addictions. I wish it would have ended differently but now we must think of the family. I’m truly heartbroken for him, his family and especially his daughter and hope that people are kind to them during this time.
the situation should have been handled a different way they are saposed to be trained to control times like that without taking a life because he had a family
This is heart breaking news to anyone that knew Josh and his daughter.
Don’t you guys think if Josh really wanted to hurt someone he would have? Growing up as a redneck shooting 60 times don’t you think he would have hit the target? There is a slim chance that someone like Josh that has been hunting all his life would have missed the cops if he wanted to hurt them, as for wife beating piece of sh**. I really hope this didn’t come from his ex, because she is a mental case too, that is why Josh had full custody over his daughter. R.I.P Josh
while his was a horribly tragic incident, and I feel for the family…what if he had shot and killed an officer? would that seem fair? The family shouldn’t have been allowed in, if they had been they may have been buried alongside him. anyone who shoots a high powered riffle into a crowd of human beings is obvously in dire straihts and extremely dangerous just remember, even Hitler had loved ones. I’m not sayying this man was evil, but he is no martyr. I feel so sorry for this man’s poor mother.
and Eric….it’s “supposed”
when the sert team is called in it means he had plenty of time to give up. he didn’t do that, he easily could have tossed the rifle outside and allowed him self to get the help the troops would have been legally required to give. like an evaluation by mental health???? sure, he would still be charged, but maybe he was nuts…still gives no reason to act like this. also, you shoot at a cop that is enough reason for a cop to use deadly force, whether u hit them or not. harrison valley got a little better on this day.