Upper Pottsgrove Township Shooting: College Student Glenwood Pysher Fatally Shot by Police After Apparent Wrong-House Mix-Up
UPPER POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — An investigation is underway after Glenwood Pysher, a college student in his senior year, was fatally shot by an Upper Pottsgrove Township police officer early Sunday morning after apparently going to the wrong residence, according to accounts provided by his parents to ABC News.
Pysher was reportedly killed at approximately 12:30 a.m. after an officer encountered him on the back porch of a residence. The circumstances surrounding the encounter and what led the officer to discharge their firearm remain under investigation.
According to Pysher’s mother, Erin Pysher, her son apparently believed the residence belonged to friends he intended to visit. She said he initially rang the doorbell before moving toward the back of the property, where he reportedly knocked again and called out for his friends to let him inside.
When nobody responded, Pysher apparently contacted his friends by phone. His mother said he also sent them a video showing where he was. His friends reportedly realized that he was at the wrong address and told him they would come and pick him up.
The fatal encounter was reportedly captured by surveillance cameras positioned in the backyard of the residence. The footage is now being reviewed as investigators work to determine exactly what happened between Pysher and the responding officer.
Pysher’s parents said they have received limited information about the shooting from authorities. Some of their understanding of the timeline reportedly comes from cellphone call records that their daughter was able to access.
Erin Pysher told ABC News that her son’s phone showed he was speaking with friends between approximately 12:32 and 12:33 a.m. She said it appeared that a dispatch call reporting a shooting came shortly afterward.
Around 2 a.m., two officers reportedly arrived at the Pysher family home and asked whether a person named Glenwood Pysher lived there. Erin said she initially believed officers were looking for her husband before realizing that something had happened to her son.
The family described Glenwood as a fun-loving young man who enjoyed spending time with friends and had a passion for baseball. They said he was in his final year of college and studying to become a history teacher.
His parents also told ABC News that, apart from receiving a speeding ticket when he was 16, their son had no known history of trouble with the law.
The shooting has raised questions about the circumstances of the police encounter, including what the officer knew when arriving at the residence, what Pysher was doing on the property and what occurred immediately before the fatal shot was fired. Those questions are expected to be central to the ongoing investigation.
Authorities have not publicly established that Pysher was intentionally trespassing or that he posed a threat to the homeowner or responding officers. The available account indicates that investigators are still working to reconstruct the incident using witness statements, dispatch records, cellphone information and surveillance footage.
The identity of the officer involved and further details about the officer’s actions have not been established from the information provided.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the surveillance footage and other evidence are expected to play an important role in determining what happened during the fatal encounter.
