Free Republic

A police constable in Pennsylvania killed a 12-year-old girl when he fired a shot at the girl‘s father that passed through the man‘s arm and hit her, officials said on Tuesday. Ciara Meyer was pronounced dead at her home on Monday morning after Constable Clarke Steele attempted to "enforce an eviction order" on her family in Duncannon, north of Harrisburg, according to officials.

Police said the girl's father, Donald Bartho Meyer Jr., 57, pointed a .223 caliber rifle at Constable Clarke Steele, who fired a single round from his .40 caliber service weapon. The bullet passed through Meyer and struck Ciara, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Meyer was treated at Hershey Medical Center. He was being held without bond pending a preliminary hearing Friday on state charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, making terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person, according to court records. Court records show that Meyer owed $1,780.85 in a landlord-tenant dispute. State Police Trooper Robert T. Hicks...

DUNCANNON, Pa. (AP) — A constable serving an eviction order at a central Pennsylvania apartment fired at an armed tenant but the bullet passed through the man's arm and fatally struck his 12-year-old daughter, authorities said. The constable went to the apartment near Duncannon, about 10 miles northwest of Harrisburg, at about 10 a.m. Monday to enforce a district judge's eviction order, state police said Tuesday. A man answered the door, closed it, then reopened it and exchanged words briefly with the constable, police said. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been "slung and concealed along his...