Pennsylvania resident’s photos wrongly linked to gunman who killed police officers

Authorities identified the gunman who killed three police officers and wounded two more in the US state of Pennsylvania as Matthew James Ruth of Hanover, saying the 24-year-old opened fire on the agents in a September 17, 2025 ambush as they sought to arrest him on multiple charges related to a stalking incident the day prior. But photos shared in widespread social media posts show a different man with the same first and last name, according to the individual and Pennsylvania State Police.

“This is 24-year-old, Matthew J. Ruth, of Hanover, Pennsylvania who shot and killed three police officers and left two more wounded yesterday with an AR-15,” said a since-deleted September 18 post on X, which shares two photos of a bearded man wearing hats.

Occupy Democrats, a liberal advocacy group, shared the same two images alongside photos of the slain law enforcement agents.

“This is 24-year old Matthew James Ruth,” the group wrote to its more than 10 million followers on Facebook.

“Yesterday, he shot and killed 3 cops with an AR-style rifle. He’s yet ANOTHER young, white male murderer in America who Republicans will ignore because it doesn’t fit their narrative,” it said in the post, which was shared 115,000 times.

Similar posts spread across platforms. The Economic Times, an Indian newspaper, also ran the photos in a story about the incident.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker named the perpetrator during a press conference September 19, saying the ambush occurred as officers attempted to serve Ruth an arrest warrant on September 17 over a stalking incident involving an ex-girlfriend (archived here and here).

Ruth shot at the officers from inside the home of the ex-girlfriend and her mother, who had fled. Police said he was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

But the photos circulating online do not show the culprit, according to the Pennsylvania State Police, who also identified the suspect (archived here).

James Grothey, public information officer for the Pennsylvania State Police, told AFP in a September 19, 2025 email that “neither of the people showed in those social media posts were involved with the shooting of the three police officers.”

The York County district attorney’s office told AFP no mug shots are available for Ruth.

The York Daily Record, a local newspaper, published a high school yearbook photo of what it said showed the shooter, provided by a former classmate (archived here).

The person in the outlet’s photo is not the same individual as the one depicted in the posts circulating online.

The man in the posts, also named Matt Ruth and similarly from the Hanover area of Pennsylvania, confirmed via Facebook direct message that he was not the gunman.

“The shooter is dead and I’m alive, thank you,” he told AFP September 19.

In a September 18 post from his Facebook page, he described the online mix-up as an “outrageous situation” (archived here and here).

“This horrifying event happened and the dude shares my name in a general location,” he added in a comment under the post. “They find my old account and steal my pictures for news.”

He explained in other comments that the photos misused online were pulled from an old Facebook profile of his (archived here, here and here).

On that old page, he has since updated his photo to an image of a York County police badge and linked to the song “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy (archived here and here).

In another response to a self-described co-worker who also posted September 18 to correct the false claims circulating online, Ruth added that he was not 24 years old — the age authorities provided for the shooter (archived here).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation around US shootings here.