Thirty-one-year-old David L. Grove of Fairfield, a Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife conservation officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty late Thursday night.
At about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Adams County Control initially dispatched officers to Shrivers Road for a report of shots fired. The Times reported that seven police units were originally dispatched, and the officer was instructed to inform the dispatch center if he needed more.
A few minutes later, the call turned much more serious.
“Officer down,” was heard across the police and fire monitor.
Pennysylvania State Police confirmed that Christopher Lynn Johnson, 27, was in custody as of 10:30 Friday morning. The pickup truck he used to flee the scene was recovered along Teaberry Road in western Adams County
The Associated Press reported that online court records list a Christopher Lynn Johnson with a history of burglary convictions and a 2005 guilty plea to a charge of fleeing an officer and endangering the welfare of children.
“Prior to the police cars, it sounded like gun shots, but I am never surprised by that,” said Dorothy Schlenker, who lives on the 300 block of Shriver Road. “It seems like someone is always shooting something out here.”
The medical helicopter originally dispatched was canceled and a coroner was dispatched at approximately 11:30 p.m.
The Game Commission said Grove was investigating reports of ongoing night-time shooting and possible poaching activity in the area.
Prior to this incident, the last Game Commission Officer to have been shot and killed in the line of duty was Game Protector Joseph McHugh in Weatherly, Carbon County, on Nov. 7, 1915.
“We are shocked and saddened by the killing of WCO Grove,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “He was a bright, young officer who was dedicated to conserving Pennsylvania's wildlife resources, and promoting our state's rich hunting and trapping heritage.”
Grove was commissioned a full-time Wildlife Conservation Officer on March 8, 2008, and assigned to the southern district of Adams County.
Grove graduated, in 1997, from Grace Academy in Hagerstown, Md.
