Pennsylvania police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter in killing of college student

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania police officer who fatally shot a 22-year-old college student, who had ended up at the wrong house late at night and was waiting for friends to pick him up, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the Aug. 23 death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV. The prosecutor said the officer had less-than-lethal options and did not need to resort to shooting Pysher during the encounter.

The Montgomery County Detective Bureau investigated the shooting and reviewed footage from Farrell’s body-worn camera, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

“The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. 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.

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.

Farrell turned himself in to the Montgomery County Detectives on Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Kathleen 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 Sept. 10.

Farrell was the first officer on the scene after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into the back door of a home. Farrell’s body-worn camera showed the officer walking down the driveway with his gun drawn, using its light to illuminate the way, the release says.

Standing behind a car in the driveway, Farrell saw Pysher on the home’s patio, near the back door. Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands.” Then he yelled, “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.”

Pysher is seen on video raising his hands as he began walking toward the officer and continuing to walk in that direction as the officer yelled, “Drop to the ground,” the release said. Farrell again yelled, “Drop to the ground,” then yelled, “Stop or I'll...” But before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest, the district attorney's office said.

Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release says.

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 home of the person whose birthday it was 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, the release says.

Pysher's father has said he believes, based on what his son's friends have told him, 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,” Glen Pysher told The Associated Press last week. “From what we understand, he announced, ‘Hey! Open the door!’ because he thought he was at his friend’s house.”

His son then sat down on the back porch and contacted his friends, who realized he was in the wrong place and set out to find him, the father said.

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Brumback reported from Atlanta.

This image from body camera video released by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office shows Glenwood Earl Pysher IV seconds before he was shot on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Norristown, Pa. (Montgomery County District Attorney's Office via AP)

This booking photo provided by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, shows Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell. (Montgomery County District Attorney's Office via AP)

Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Glenwood Pysher III, watches as pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of his son Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed by police, in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial ended a fourth day of deliberations without a verdict Tuesday after earlier saying they couldn’t agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.

Not long after arriving at the courthouse, the jury sent Judge William Sullivan a note saying they had been unable to reach a unanimous decision despite many hours of back and forth. He told them to keep trying.

It was the jury’s first indication of an impasse in the closely watched trial that has focused on maternal mental health after childbirth, and which has stirred deep divisions among the public.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

Clancy stared straight ahead as the jury entered in the morning to say they were at a standstill, then looked toward them as the judge spoke.

Sullivan told the jurors that he recognized it had been a long trial with more than 80 witnesses and 300 exhibits. “But because of that, I’m going to ask you to go back out,” he said.

They're expected to resume deliberations Wednesday.

The jury could convict her of murder or manslaughter, or acquit her if jurors believe her deteriorating mental health was to blame. A conviction could lead to a life prison sentence. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines she is a danger to the public.

If jurors can’t reach a verdict and a mistrial is declared, the charges against Clancy would remain. Prosecutors would need to decide whether to try Clancy again before an entirely new group of jurors.

Prosecutors could offer a plea deal to Clancy, although her attorney is more likely to push for them to drop the charges, said Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case.

The jury began deliberating on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, they asked to look at a knife that Clancy used to cut herself shortly after the killings, and bags with empty prescription pill bottles found in her house.

During more than four weeks of testimony, jurors heard differing views from medical experts.

Clancy's lawyer argued she loved her children, but killed them because she lost her grip on reality — and on herself — due to bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth.

Prosecutors said Clancy was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to kill the children. A forensic psychologist who testified for the prosecution said he concluded that Clancy killed the children because she wanted to end her life but didn’t want to leave them behind.

Clancy’s mother and sister testified that she became anxious, paranoid and suicidal after the birth of her third child. She sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital, in the months before killing Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months.

Less than three weeks after being discharged, she sent her husband on an errand and killed the children with exercise bands in the basement of their home south of Boston. She then jumped from a second-floor window and remains paralyzed from the waist down. Her lawyers say she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her own life.

Clancy chose not to testify. She watched the proceedings from the defense table, occasionally weeping, as when prosecutors showed autopsy photos of the children to the jury.

Jurors spent two days listening to testimony from her former husband, Patrick Clancy, and his anguished 911 call. He was on the phone when he discovered the children's bodies, minutes after finding his wife.

Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil. The trial marks the first time he has seen Lindsay Clancy since the killings.

Postpartum psychosis, the condition that Clancy’s attorney says she had when she killed the children, is more serious and less common than postpartum depression. Researchers estimate that the condition afflicts 1 to 2 out of 1,000 women after delivery.

Associated Press reporter Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed.

Lindsay Clancy looks at the jurors seated in the courtroom during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy reacts to the jury saying they cannot reach a verdict during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them before they start deliberations during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Allison Ozga, Paula and Mike Musgrove listen to Judge Sullivan ask the jury to go back to deliberations. during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Judge William Sullivan asks the jury to continue deliberations during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy looks to her lawyer Kevin Reddington as the jury keeps deliberating at her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them before they start deliberations during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)