Pennsylvania state police trooper shot and killed in a traffic stop, authorities say
Mar 9, 2026, 5:39 AM | Updated: 12:02 pm
FILE - In this March 6, 2015 photo, a sign marks the location of the barracks for the Pennsylvania State Police in Blooming Grove Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam, file)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam, file)
PAOLI, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania State Police trooper was shot and killed by a suspect whom he had pulled over in a traffic stop Sunday night, authorities said.
Cpl. Tim O’Connor was killed as he approached the car when the driver fired from inside the vehicle, the state’s acting police commissioner, Lt. Col. George Bivens, told a late Sunday night news conference at Paoli Hospital in Chester County.
The shooter then got out of the car, walked a short distance away and shot and killed himself with a pistol, Bivens said. He did not identify the man.
O’Connor was married and had a young daughter, authorities said.
O’Connor had been on patrol when a call came in for an erratic driver. O’Connor was dispatched and reported shortly afterward that he had pulled over the car at an intersection in West Caln Township, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Philadelphia.
“That is the last we heard from Corporal O’Connor,” Bivens said.
He didn’t respond to radio calls to check on him and troopers dispatched to the scene to check on him “found a very bad situation,” Bivens said.
Police and Chester County authorities were investigating, Bivens said.
