DA Reports Officers’ Force Justified in Mont Clare
NORRISTOWN PA – Officers of the Upper Providence and Limerick police departments exercised “a lawful use of force” in the mid-March shooting of a gun-wielding man at the Meadows Apartments on Meadowview Lane in Mont Clare, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Wednesday (March 30, 2022).
Steele delivered his conclusion following an “independent investigation of the shooting,” conducted by the county Detective Bureau, into the early morning March 16 incident. Suspect David Naumenko (at top), who a family member reported was suffering a “mental breakdown,” is alleged to have used his own weapons to fire upon several officers in areas near the apartment complex.
Officers returned fire during the incident, during which Naumenko was wounded and then arrested. Naumenko was transported by ambulance to Paoli Hospital for treatment of a single gunshot wound to his right arm. Investigators later determined Naumenko had fired 17 shots, and the officers in total fired eight shots.
Naumenko was arrested March 17 and charged with two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, assault of law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, risking catastrophe, and other related charges. He is being held on $2 million cash bail in the county jail.
“Police were fired upon by the defendant almost immediately upon arrival, and (a) first responding officer very narrowly escaped physical injury from shots being fired by Naumenko. The defendant continued shooting until, finally, a Limerick Police Officer obtained a heightened position that allowed him to obtain a clear view of the defendant, and he took one shot that ended the lethal threat to the officers’ lives and the lives of everyone in that apartment complex,” Steele said.
“Our investigation determined the facts of this case supported the use of deadly force by police officers,” he added.
In Pennsylvania, the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer is governed by the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. In part it states a law enforcement officer is “justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person.”
It also states a shooting is justified “to defeat … the escape of a person who possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.”
Read earlier news coverage of the incident from these sources:
- Man charged with attempted murder after firing at officers in Montgomery County (6ABC-TV, March 17)
- Heavily-Armed Man Shoots at Officers During Montco Condo Rampage: DA (NBC 10 Philadelphia, March 17)
- DA: Mont Clare man opened fire on police 9 seconds after officer stepped out of car (KYW NewsRadio, March 17)
- Man Charged With Attempted Murder Of Two Police Officers, Other Felonies After Shootout In Upper Providence (Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, March 17)
Naumenko photo from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
Police lights photo by Max Fleischmann via Unsplash, used under license
