The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that the officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man in Northampton Township were justified in their actions.
Mark Chambers, 40, of Northampton Township, was shot and killed on the evening of November 5 after confronting officers with a knife outside his home in the 400 block of Elm Avenue in Northampton Township.
The officers had responded to a call regarding a suicidal subject, according to District Attorney Matthew Weintraub’s office.
Chambers, reportedly armed with a 12-inch knife, charged at the responding officers and ignored at least 18 commands to drop the weapon. The confrontation resulted in three officers discharging their firearms.
Despite immediate first aid efforts by officers and first responders, Chambers was pronounced dead at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township just past 8 p.m.
An autopsy confirmed he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
In his letter to Northampton Township Chief of Police Steven LeCompte, Weintraub stated that the officers’ belief that their lives were in imminent danger justified the use of deadly force.
“I have concluded that [the officers] were reasonable in their individual beliefs that their lives were placed in clear and present danger by Mr. Chambers at the time that each of the three fired their service weapons at him, killing him. l therefore conclude that [the officers] were justified in discharging their weapons and fatally shooting Mark Chambers,” Weintraub wrote.
Credit: Bucks County DA’s Office
Weintraub emphasized that the officers had attempted to de-escalate the situation using verbal commands before resorting to lethal force. He noted that Chambers’ actions in charging towards the officers with a knife raised and ignoring commands escalated the situation.
The investigation found the officers acted within the bounds of the law and policy, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Weintraub’s office has a protocol of not releasing names of officers not charged in such incidents.
As is policy in the county, all uses of deadly force by law enforcement are investigated by the Bucks County Detectives and the results of the investigation are reviewed by the district attorney’s office.
Below is further information released from the district attorney’s office:
“At 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2023, the Bucks County Communications Center received a 911 call from a woman reporting that her son was armed with a knife, had cut his own neck, and was threatening to jump from the roof. She terminated the 911 call, but emergency dispatchers called her back, and they could hear her yelling at her son to get back inside the house.
“Within a minute of the 911 call, three officers notified dispatchers that they were heading to the home. A review of the officers’ body camera footage showed that the entire incident at the home lasted a total of 35 seconds, which included the 18 seconds from the time they exited their vehicles until their initial encounter with Chambers.
“The officers’ body-worn camera showed Chambers standing just inside the front doorway of his home and holding a knife with both hands at waist level.
“In the 17-second confrontation with Chambers, the three officers gave Chambers at least 18 verbal commands to “drop the knife” or “drop it.” During this encounter, Chambers could be heard saying, “help me,” and one of the officers responded, “we will help you.”
“However, without warning, Chambers positioned his knife in an overhead attack position and charged out the front door at the officers, causing them to open fire. The three officers retreated a short distance backwards and were approximately six to 10 feet away from Chambers when they discharged their firearms at him.
“The evidence collected at the scene included a 12-inch knife with an 8-inch blade.”
