UPDATE: DA details timeline in officer-involved shooting in Carlisle (2024)

Maddie SeilerThe Sentinel

A Carlisle Police officer's use of lethal force during an incident last month was deemed justified after a weekslong investigation.

Cumberland County District Attorney Seán McCormack held a news conference Wednesday morning to release the finding. He outlined the series of events that led to the death of Nathaniel Law Liberator, 33, of Carlisle, on Jan. 13.

Shooting events

Police received a 911 call just before 2 p.m. that day where the caller reported an unknown man was harassing her children outside her home along C Street, McCormack said.

When an officer arrived and spoke with the caller, she told him it was the second time her teenage son had encountered the man, later identified as Liberator. A few days earlier the boy had been shooting arrows into a snowbank in his front yard when Liberator accused him of shooting the arrow at him and took some of the arrows, McCormack said.

On Jan. 13, Liberator encountered the woman's son in the front yard again.

"During the second encounter, he referred to the boy using racial epithets and also repeatedly cursed at the boy," McCormack said. "He also told the boy at this point in time that he was going to kill his parents."

He said the boy's mother called 911 and told the responding officer her older son had followed Liberator and could provide his location, describing him as a white man wearing a red coat and walking with a black dog.

The Carlisle patrol officer left the scene around 2:13 p.m. and drove to K Street where he found someone matching that description, McCormack said. He said the patrol officer recognized Liberator from a domestic assault incident in the fall, after which he had been charged with simple assault.

McCormack said the officer, whom he did not identify, commanded Liberator to stop walking, and body camera footage indicates that he looked at the patrol car but did not comply.

The officer then got out of the car and began to pursue Liberator on foot, commanding "Nathan, stop walking," repeatedly to which Liberator responded, "Get back into your car," McCormack said. The officer then informed Liberator he was being detained for an investigation, but Liberator continued to ignore commands and continued walking south down North Pitt Street toward I Street.

McCormack said the patrol officer called for backup, and a Carlisle police corporal arrived at the scene and got out of his vehicle as Liberator approached I Street around 2:17 p.m.

From here, Liberator traveled through private properties toward the former George's Flower Stop at the corner of G and North Pitt streets in the direction of the initial incident.

"As he was being followed by both officers, the officers gave him multiple verbal commands to stop," McCormack said. "He had, when he left the sidewalk, put his hands into his pockets, and the officers, in concern for their safety, commanded him to take his hands out of his pockets."

He said the officers told Liberator that if he failed to remove his hands from his pockets they would use a Taser, and one officer drew a Taser. McCormack said the corporal decided they would use "a much lower force level" than the Taser and "put hands" on Liberator to stop him from walking.

Each officer grabbed one of Liberator's arms, and McCormack said he resisted. The patrol officer lost his grip, and Liberator and the corporal fell to the ground where the struggle continued.

During the struggle, McCormack said the corporal saw Liberator had a weapon that police believe was a sharpened deer antler.

"Liberator was actively ... attempting to stab the corporal, I counted at least four or five times during the course of this struggle," he said.

The corporal called out, "He's got a weapon" multiple times to alert the patrol officer, McCormack said.

From there, he said the patrol officer stepped away from Liberator, made a "split-second" decision, drew his pistol and shot Liberator twice in the torso.

Upon recognizing Liberator was no longer a threat to the officers, McCormack said they attempted to provide life-saving measures, however these, along with additional actions taken by other officers and medical personnel who later arrived on the scene, were unsuccessful and Liberator died of his wounds.

An autopsy revealed the shots were the cause of his death.

State Police investigation

McCormack said he was notified of the shooting around 2:30 p.m. Jan. 13 and asked Pennsylvania State Police to investigate. Officials conducted interviews, processed the scene, and spoke with both police officers involved.

McCormack said the patrol officer recognized Liberator from his previous arrest in the fall, and knew Liberator had, at that time, exhibited "anti-police attitudes." He said that the corporal who responded Jan. 13 did not know Liberator.

The investigation also included the examination of both officers' body camera footage, and McCormack provided screen shots from both perspectives during Wednesday's news conference. These showed Liberator holding the sharpened deer antler and attempting to stab the corporal.

McCormack said police considered alternate methods to detain Liberator, however they ruled out the use of chemical spray due to windy conditions and opted not to use a Taser because it was possible the Taser might not penetrate Liberator's coat.

"Let me make this very clear, this was a life or death decision on the part of the officer that fired the shots," he said.

Some reports indicated that Liberator's family had attempted to have him involuntarily committed for a mental health evaluation in the days before the shooting. Prior to Wednesday's news conference, McCormack said he met privately with members of Liberator's family to share his findings, and they confirmed this was true.

"Neither officer was aware of those attempts by Liberator's family to involuntarily commit him," McCormack said. "The only information they had at that time was the information they received from the woman on C Street and the one officer's previous encounter with Mr. Liberator."

He said the corporal had previously completed Cumberland County's crisis intervention training.

The Cumberland County District Attorney's office does not plan to release the names of the officers involved in the incident, nor will police body camera footage be made public.

Upon reaching the conclusion that the shooting was justified based on laws concerning the use of lethal force, McCormack announced that the district attorney's review of the situation is complete and the investigation is closed.

Carlisle response

McCormack said neither officer was injured in the Jan. 13 shooting and both were placed on leave with pay. It will be up to Carlisle Borough to determine possible reinstatement or other actions.

With the district attorney's findings released, McCormack said the Carlisle Police Department could launch its own internal review of policies and procedures.

Carlisle Mayor Sean Shultz released a statement Wednesday recognizing both the humanity of Liberator and the officers involved in the Jan. 13 incident.

"In times like these, it is crucial for our community to be united by extending empathy and compassion toward one another, and to be intentional about rejecting divisive rhetoric," he said. "We must share in collective grief with Nathaniel's loved ones while also holding space for the officers and their families who have been deeply affected."

Shultz also spoke of a "societal failure to prioritize mental health," a concept McCormack also highlighted through acknowledging a lack of mental health funding from the state.

McCormack said crisis workers are traditionally based in hospitals and would not likely have responded to an active police incident while it was unfolding, and that this incident unfolded in the course of mere minutes.

The borough is in the process of introducing a co-responders program to provide mental health crisis services along with the police department, however, that program has not debuted.

McCormack said that in light of Liberator's death, charges from the domestic assault incident last fall have been dropped.

"As we mourn Nathaniel Liberator's passing and confront the complexities of this tragedy, let us uphold the values of compassion, understanding and unity that have always defined this Carlisle community," Shultz said. "In doing so, we honor those who must bear the weight of this loss, and we strive toward a future where such losses are but a distant memory."