CAMPBELLTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A New Jersey man fatally shot by Pennsylvania police in a soybean field had stolen 81 handguns from a gun shop, authorities said.
Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold said Joshua Malave, 18, of Cinnaminson, was killed early Monday in Campbelltown, about 15 miles east of Harrisburg.
Authorities said police went to the Horseshoe Pike Gunshop after a burglary alarm went off. When officers arrived at around 5:15 a.m., they saw Malave crawling through the soybean field across the street, authorities said.
Arnold said witnesses told police Malave fired a shot at officers and was killed when they returned fire. No officers were hurt. Police found a shell casing in the field near his body consistent with the ammunition he was carrying that would have fit his rifle, he said.
Afterward, Arnold said, authorities found bags filled with handguns and ammunition scattered in the field. More firearms lay in the grass outside the shop.
Malave was arrested July 9 on gun charges in New Jersey after reports of shots being fired near Lake Lonnie, said Delran Detective Dennis Rooney.
When police arrived, Malave and a juvenile fled but were subsequently arrested. Malave appeared the next day before a Burlington County Superior Court judge, who reduced his bail from $100,000 to $50,000, said Donna Mazzanti, a court spokeswoman.