Man Shot By Police Suspected Of Choking Girlfriend: Bucks DA Releases New Details

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Bucks County District Attorney's Office released an update Friday on the man who was killed by Philadelphia police after a multi-police department chase that began in Middletown.

Twenty-nine-year-old Terrence Bey of Philadelphia is suspected of shooting a man in Middletown Township who police say was attempting to help a victim of domestic assault.

Officers with the Middletown Township Police Department were initially dispatched to a 911 call at 2:41 p.m. Wednesday, from the Racquet Club Apartments on Veterans Highway.

New information from the District Attorney's office said the caller told Bucks County emergency dispatchers that a 28-year-old woman, who lived in the apartment complex, was involved in a domestic assault with her boyfriend — Bey. The caller said Bey grabbed his girlfriend by the throat and choked her, according to the DA, and that he might be armed.

Upon arrival, a patrol officer spotted Bey near the B Building of the apartment complex and ordered him to stop and show his hands. Bey briefly stopped, according to the report, then reached into his waistband and refused to comply. The release said Bey then fled and the patrol officer pursued him on foot.

The DA said Bey took an armed offensive position near a patio after rounding the building, and that the patrol officer slowed his pursuit and looked around the corner, spotting Bey in the threatening position. The DA said the officer again issued verbal commands upon seeing Bey near the patio, and that Bey ran toward an apartment in the B Building. The officer said he then cautiously followed Bey’s suspected path, and at that point heard glass break and a gunshot.

These details differ slightly from a report by the Philadelphia Police Department on Thursday, which said the officer lost sight of Bey in pursuit around the corner of the apartment building, only seeing him again later when he left the scene in a Volvo.

At 2:47 p.m., according to new details from the DA's report, Middletown Township police officers converged on the apartment to get Bey, but instead found a shattered glass sliding door and a gunshot victim. A woman inside the apartment told police she had been inside with her husband and Bey’s girlfriend. She said her husband was standing next to the kitchen counter in the dining room area and she was standing behind the kitchen counter. Police said Bey’s girlfriend was in their bedroom.

The woman told police Bey smashed the rear sliding glass door, stepped into their apartment, and shot her husband in the face. Bey then fled on foot, she said.

In the Thursday news release out of Philadelphia, officials said that when the original officer returned to the front of the building, he saw a man leaving the apartment, apparently shot, holding his face and yelling, "He shot me, please help."

The DA said officers called for emergency medical service, and aided the victim until an ambulance arrived. The victim was transported by Penndel Middletown EMS to St. Mary Medical Center where he underwent immediate surgery.

>>> Levittown Shooting Suspect Killed By Philly Police After Pursuit

While police were helping the victim, an officer spotted Bey in a Volvo SUV. Bey fled out the parking lot and onto southbound Veterans Highway, where officers from multiple Bucks County police departments began to pursue him.

He led police to Philadelphia. At Whitaker Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia, according to Thursday's news release from the Philadelphia Police Department, a Middletown officer used what's called a PIT maneuver to force Bey's car to turn sharply and stop.

The news release said Bey's car had turned 180 degrees, and was now face-to-face with a Lower Makefield sergeant's vehicle. The sergeant said he saw Bey point what appeared to be a handgun at him, so he accelerated his vehicle and rammed Bey's vehicle.

The sergeant then took cover under his dashboard and heard multiple gunshots, according to the release. He said he then saw Bey running across Roosevelt Boulevard, once pointing his firearm at the sergeant. The release said the sergeant then took cover again and lost sight of Bey, then heard gunshots.

A Lower Makefield officer then fired at least one round at Bey, after Bey pointed his weapon at the officer, the release said. A Philadelphia Police Department Counter Terrorism officer saw Bey running toward the Sunoco on Adams Avenue, and said he saw Bey shoot at police. Bey continued to run, according to the release.

Then, police say a 15th District officer fired at least once at Bey after Bey pointed his gun at him. The officer struck Bey in the head, according to the release.

Philadelphia Fire Department medics pronounced Bey dead at the scene.

Officers found that he had a Glock 22, .40 caliber semiautomatic firearm with an obliterated serial number, according to the Philadelphia Police Department's initial investigation.

The Bucks County DA also released findings from the apartment, where the DA's office said Middletown Township police located an extended Glock .40-caliber magazine, which was dropped by Bey.

Through interviews, the DA said Middletown Township detectives found out that Bey had been staying with his girlfriend and routinely drove her vehicle. Detectives also learned the domestic incident had been going on for hours before the 911 call, and that Bey and the shooting victim had a brief encounter earlier with the shooting victim telling Bey to keep the fight out of his apartment.

Police executed a search warrant inside Bey’s girlfriend’s apartment later in the evening, finding heroin, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and packaging materials. Police also discovered that Bey had multiple warrants for probation violations and arrest warrants on drug and firearm violations, the DA said.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that the Officer Involved Shootings Investigations Unit will conduct a thorough investigation into Bey's shooting death and present findings to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

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