Montco DA Cleared Abington Police In Shooting. Find Out Why.

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — The Montgomery District Attorney's Office has cleared Abington Police of using force in a March shooting incident at a Glenside apartment complex.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Monday that an investigation of the March 6 incident at an apartment complex found that police officers used lawful force.

The independent investigation of the shooting was conducted by the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, as is the normal procedure for officer-involved shootings in Montgomery County, officials said.

The Abington Township Police Department and the officers involved cooperated with the investigation. As part of the investigation, Montgomery County detectives interviewed numerous officers and witnesses; reviewed police body-worn cameras, recordings of the police radio transmissions, and the 911 call; and collected and tested on-scene evidence.

The investigation found that Abington Township Police were dispatched at 11:07 a.m. on March 6 to the Rosemore Garden Apartments in Glenside.

The 911 caller, a female juvenile, stated her mother’s boyfriend, Wyleek Tinsley, who lived at the apartment, “just shot a gun at her. I don’t know if she’s hurt or not,” and told the dispatcher that a door in the apartment had been broken down.

The juvenile stated she was fearful of being shot, and at the urging of the 911 dispatcher, the juvenile left the apartment, police said.

At 11:16 a.m., Abington Police officers entered the apartment building’s stairwell. While just outside the apartment, police officers heard a woman screaming. At 11:23 a.m., a gunshot was heard coming from inside the apartment, which prompted the officers to force entry into the apartment, fearing the woman had been shot and was injured.

A man appeared at the end of the darkened hallway, holding an object, which was later determined to be a cell phone.

Police discharged their weapons, and Tinsley fell to the ground. Police immediately rendered first aid. Other officers advanced down the hallway and entered the master bedroom, where they found the adult female, physically unharmed.

Police recovered a loaded Smith & Wesson 30 Super Carry firearm in the bedroom

Swabbing the firearm located Tinsley’s DNA. Two Blazer Super Carry 30 fired cartridge casings (FCC) were recovered from the bedroom floor, and one Blazer Super Carry 30 FCC was recovered from a living room cabinet. Two bullet holes were observed in the bedroom walls, authorities said.

“Our role, under the law, is to evaluate the totality of the circumstances of a fatal shooting by police and make a determination whether the use of force was justified," the District Attorney's Office said. "In this case, the totality of the circumstances includes the fact that officers knew the juvenile said in her 911 call that she didn’t know whether her mother had been injured by the gunshots of her boyfriend. Police knew as they arrived on scene that the woman screamed, then they heard another gunshot from inside the apartment. Police knew that when they forced entry into the apartment, they saw a male step into the hallway holding an object."

"The time from the man’s last gunshot until the officers discharged their weapon was 17 seconds,” DA Steele said. “Our investigation determined the facts of this case supported the use of deadly force to prevent serious bodily injury to themselves and/or the female victim. Therefore, criminal charges against the officers involved are not warranted.”