A Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed 22-year-old college student who went to the wrong house late at night, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
Upper Pottsgrove Police Corporal Sean Farrell surrendered to Montgomery County detectives on Tuesday and was charged in connection with the death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV. The shooting occurred last week in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, after Pysher, who had been celebrating a friend's birthday, mistakenly went to a home he thought was his friend's residence.
Body Camera Video Contradicts Officer's Account
Police body camera video reviewed by investigators shows Farrell yelling "Drop to the ground," followed by "Stop or I'll ..." before firing two shots at Pysher, who was unarmed and had his hands in the air. The shots hit Pysher twice in the chest, killing him, according to the district attorney's office.
The video also contradicts Farrell's statement to another officer that Pysher had charged him, "screaming and yelling and wouldn't get down on the ground," according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint. The footage shows Pysher raising his hands and walking toward the officer, but does not show the aggressive behavior Farrell described.
District Attorney Cites Less-Lethal Options
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference that the investigation found Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, Farrell was standing behind a car in the driveway, a safe distance from Pysher, who was on the home's patio near the back door.
"Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter," Steele said in a news release.
Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release said.
Family Seeks Justice
An attorney for Pysher's family issued a statement thanking the prosecutor. "The family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney's office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son," said attorney Ken Fulginiti.
Pysher's father, Glen Pysher, told the Associated Press last week that his son tried to enter what he thought was his friend's house. "He tried to open the doorknob and obviously startled the homeowner," he said. "From what we understand, he announced: 'Hey! Open the door!' because he thought he was at his friend's house."
The investigation found that Pysher had been out at several bars earlier in the evening to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday. A designated driver drove the group to the birthday person's home around 11 p.m., and Pysher left about half an hour later to walk half a mile to another friend's house to keep drinking but ended up at the wrong house.
Bail Set, Preliminary Hearing Scheduled
Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Rebar set bail at $75,000, and Farrell must turn in all weapons to the state police as a condition of his release, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office said. He has a preliminary hearing set for September 10.
According to Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University who maintains a nationwide database of roughly 25,000 cases of police officers arrested since 2005, 218 local sworn police officers had been charged with murder or manslaughter in an on-duty fatal police shooting between January 2005 and the end of July 2026. Of those, 78 officers have been convicted, while 107 have been acquitted or had their cases dismissed. In Pennsylvania, 10 officers had been charged in that time, six of whom were convicted.
Stinson noted that while there are fluctuations in the number of officers charged over the years, given that there are close to a thousand fatal police encounters every year, those fluctuations seem statistically insignificant. "These are ugly cases. The facts are never easy," he said. "Grand juries seem to have a similar issue as criminal jurors. They are very reluctant to second guess the split-second, often life or death decisions of an on-duty police officer in a potentially violent street encounter."
The majority of officers charged in on-duty fatal shootings shot an unarmed person. In the 78 convictions, only 10 of the victims were armed with a gun at the time of the shootings.
