Crime & Safety

ID of Police Officer Who Killed Bystander Revealed in Court

The police officer who in February shot Marie Zienkewicz, 89, identifies himself in court.

The police officer who killed an 89-year-old neighbor of the man involved in a shootout with police at a Warminster apartment complex in February has identified himself in court. 

Warminster officer Sean Harold said at a preliminary hearing on Thursday for Andrew G. Cairns that he was the one who shot Marie Zienkewicz during the February incident, according to a story on PhillyBurbs.com.

Thursday's preliminary hearing, however, centered around a murder charge against Cairns. 

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"Harold testified that he saw a door open and someone reaching out as if possibly pointing a handgun. So he fired four shots, one of them hitting and killing Marie Zienkewicz," the story said. 

Warminster Patch stories indicate the incident began around 4 p.m. Feb. 19, when police responded to a domestic dispute in the 2000 building of the Jefferson on the Creek apartments on Street Road.

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“When the officers approached the 2000 building, they came under fire from an upstairs apartment,” according to then Police Chief Michael Murphy said, during a press conference on Feb. 20.

Murphy said at the time that during the exchange of gunfire, the downstairs neighbor of the gunman, an 89-year-old female, was struck by gunfire and died from her wounds at the scene.

Murphy said in February the woman was hit in the exchange of gunfire but it was not clear by whom.

Read More:

  • Investigators Spend Day at Apartment Complex Crime Scene
  • Man Accused of Shooting at Police Held on $10 Million Bail
  • Police Standoff has Residents Talking
  • Police Surround Alleged Gunman in Warminster


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