UPDATE: Female robbery suspect killed in Butler Twp. officer-involved shooting identified

BUTLER TWP. — UPDATE @ 10:33 a.m.:

The woman killed in the officer-involved shooting has been identified as Terena N. Thurman, 36, according to Montgomery County Coroner Kent Harshbarger. She died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

UPDATE @ 3:30 p.m.:

Butler Twp. Police held a press conference this afternoon to provide an update on the officer-involved shooting, where a female robbery suspect was shot and killed after hitting a police officer with a pickup truck.

The following new information has been released:

• A 911 call that prompted police to respond to the Days Inn was played during the press conference. The call was a worker from the Days Inn reporting that a man on the property reported he was robbed by a woman on the property. “He wasn’t really being clear,” the worker told dispatchers. “Now he’s knocking on people’s doors.”
• Once police arrived the robbery victim pointed out the suspect and the suspect then carjacked a second person, who was a resident of the hotel and stole their pick-up truck. “We believe she pushed him out in the course of the matter,” Police Chief John Porter said.
• Porter said two officers were on each side of the pickup, when the female suspect was able to get the vehicle into reverse and knocked over one of the two officers.
• One officer, whose name has not been released, fired his weapon at the woman.
• Two officers were taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries from the incident, but have since been released.
• One of the officers involved in the incident has over 30 years experience and the other has about 10 to 15 years of experience, Porter said.
• “I’m very confident in their actions with what they did,” Porter said.
• Porter said the officer-involved shooting was the first since 2015, when police had a shooting also on Miller Lane.
• Porter said they are familiar with the woman who was killed in the shooting and she had an active warrant out for her arrest at the time.

INITIAL REPORT:

Police shot and killed a female motel robbery suspect Sunday after she hit a Butler Twp. police officer with a pickup truck while trying to flee the scene, according to Butler Twp. Police Chief John Porter.

>> SWAT standoff on Wagner Ford Road ends, suspect in custody

Officers were called to a report of a robbery at the Days Inn motel on Miller Lane just before 5 p.m. Sunday. First units on the scene located the suspect, who initially fled from officers on foot, Porter said in a media release Sunday night.

According to police, the robbery suspect then robbed a second person, assaulted them, and stole a pickup truck.

“As the officers attempted to take the suspect into custody, the suspect struck one of the officers with the truck knocking the officer down and injuring the officer, at which time the officer fired his weapon in defense of the officers lives, striking the suspect who then crashed the stolen vehicle into a sign near the entrance of the motel,” Porter said.

The pickup truck had its passenger side window shattered and police taped off a crime scene of about 200 yards, including several hotel rooms.

The woman, identified as a 36-year-old white woman, died at the hospital, investigators said. Her name has not been released pending notification of family.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will be handling the shooting investigation, said Christine Ton, spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

“Evidence is still being gathered and witnesses are being interviewed. We will not be able to comment further on the shooting due to the ongoing investigation,” Ton said.

The officers involved in the incident were not identified, but were placed on administrative leave, according to department protocol, Porter said.

We’ll continue to update this story as new details become available.

Cox Media Group