DA: Officer shoots, kills apparently suicidal man armed with a gun in Pottstown
A weapon recovered at the scene turned out to be a BB/pellet gun.
Police shot and killed a 55-year-old man who refused to drop a gun while threatening to kill himself and pointed the weapon at officers in Pottstown, according to authorities and witnesses.
A weapon recovered at the scene turned out to be a BB/pellet gun, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.
The shooting occurred about 11:35 p.m. Thursday after police responded to 40 E. High St. to check on a suicidal subject, the statement said. Police were told the man had posted photos online of himself holding a gun to his head and threatening to harm himself.
Arriving officers found the man, whose name has not been released, with the gun in a nearby parking lot, the office said.
Witnesses told reporters that the police repeatedly shouted for the man to put down the weapon while he threatened to kill himself.
One witness, Levi Daugherty, told Fox29 one shot rang out when the man pointed the gun at police.
The man was pronounced dead at Reading Hospital.
Neighbors told police the man had been despondent since the recent death of his father.
The District Attorney's Office is investigating the shooting.