Glenwood Pysher IV was days from beginning a new semester when police shot him outside a stranger’s Pennsylvania home.
UPPER POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Glenwood Earl “Bubba” Pysher IV was supposed to be starting a new semester at Saint Elizabeth University, preparing to play baseball and moving toward the teaching and coaching career his family said he wanted. Instead, his relatives buried the 22-year-old eight days after a police officer shot him outside the wrong house.
Pysher’s death on Aug. 23 became a criminal case Sept. 1, when Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele charged Upper Pottsgrove Township Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, with voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said Farrell’s body-worn camera showed that Pysher had no weapon and had raised his hands when the corporal fired twice from about 17 to 20 feet away. Steele said Pysher did not present a threat that justified lethal force. Farrell has not been convicted, and the charge remains an allegation to be resolved through the courts.
The timing of the shooting added another layer to the family’s loss. Pysher had recently transferred to Saint Elizabeth University in New Jersey and was getting ready to join its baseball program. His mother told local television that he loved the game nearly as much as he loved his family. His father told The Associated Press that his son hoped to become a high school history teacher and baseball coach. Those plans were still ahead of him on the Saturday night when he went out with friends to celebrate a birthday.
The gathering began with drinking at local establishments, according to prosecutors and family accounts. The group later traveled with a designated driver to the home of the friend whose 21st birthday they were celebrating. At some point after that, Pysher decided to continue on foot toward another friend’s home about a half-mile away. He was unfamiliar or confused about the route, and his mother said the combination of darkness and alcohol contributed to him turning toward the wrong residence. The error was ordinary enough: He believed a stranger’s house on Snyder Road was the place where his friends were waiting.
Pysher went toward the back door and tried to get inside or get the attention of the people he thought were his friends. Erin Pysher later recalled that he was calling for someone to let him in. The people who actually lived there did not recognize the young man outside their home after midnight. Believing there might be an attempted break-in, they called 911. The homeowners’ fear was genuine enough to prompt a police response, but subsequent investigation did not find that Pysher was carrying a weapon. His mother said he had only his cellphone and backpack.
Friends were already trying to correct the mistake when police were dispatched. Pysher communicated with them from the property, and they realized he was not at the right house. His father later said they were coming to pick him up. His mother placed him on the phone with friends at about 12:32 a.m. She believed he had been shot by roughly 12:35 a.m. Those few minutes have remained central to the family’s understanding of how quickly a navigation mistake and a misunderstanding at a stranger’s home became irreversible.
Farrell arrived first. Investigators said his body camera recorded him approaching with his department-issued handgun drawn and using a mounted flashlight as he walked down the driveway. From behind a parked vehicle, he saw Pysher standing near the rear patio. Farrell shouted that he was police and ordered him to show his hands, raise them and get on the ground. Prosecutors said Pysher raised his hands but continued moving toward Farrell rather than immediately dropping to the ground. Farrell repeated the order.
According to the district attorney, Farrell then began warning Pysher to stop but fired before completing the warning. Two bullets struck Pysher in the chest. Prosecutors said he was between 17 and 20 feet from Farrell, who remained behind the vehicle. The Montgomery County coroner classified the death as a homicide. That classification means the death resulted from another person’s actions; it does not itself decide whether a crime occurred. That legal question was taken up by county detectives and Steele’s office during the days that followed.
The investigation did more than establish distance and the fact that Pysher was unarmed. Prosecutors said Farrell carried less-lethal tools, including a Taser, but did not use them. They also reviewed what the officer said after the shots. According to a criminal complaint described by CBS Philadelphia, Farrell told another officer that Pysher had charged him while screaming and refusing to get down. Steele said that account was inconsistent with what investigators saw on the body camera, which he said showed Pysher with raised hands and no aggressive charge.
That evidentiary conflict changed the case from an officer-involved shooting investigation into a prosecution of the officer. Steele said the relevant question was whether Farrell reasonably faced circumstances that made deadly force necessary. His office concluded he did not. The prosecutor emphasized that Farrell had cover, that Pysher was several yards away, that his hands could be seen and that no weapon was present. Steele said the shooting therefore did not meet the legal standard for deadly force. Farrell surrendered after the voluntary manslaughter charge was announced.
The charge did not erase the family’s questions. Attorney Ken Fulginiti, representing the Pyshers, publicly sought access to the body-camera footage and accused Farrell of misrepresenting what happened. Before prosecutors filed the case, Pysher’s parents had repeatedly told reporters that they could not understand why an officer responding to a call about the wrong house had fired at their son. Their public comments focused as much on his personality as on the investigation. Erin Pysher described him as a “lovable goofball” who routinely entered the family home with a joke announcing that his mother’s favorite child had arrived.
Pysher’s funeral was held Aug. 31 in Pottstown, one day before prosecutors announced the charge. Photographs from the service showed his father watching as pallbearers carried his son’s casket. The next day, the legal case moved into public view. Farrell was arraigned with bail set at $75,000 and was required to turn over weapons to Pennsylvania State Police as a condition of release, according to published reports. The abrupt sequence — funeral, charge and arraignment — placed the family’s private grief alongside the beginning of what could become a lengthy court process.
Farrell’s career with Upper Pottsgrove also ended after the filing. Township officials suspended him without pay Sept. 1. He voluntarily retired the following day after serving with the police department since 2005, Township Manager Joseph Geib said. The township announced that it would review relevant policies, training and field practices and continue cooperating with the criminal investigation. That review leaves open institutional questions beyond the individual charge, including how officers are trained to assess uncertain threats during late-night calls and when less-lethal options should be considered.
Early court reports listed a preliminary hearing for Farrell on Sept. 10. No later final outcome could be independently confirmed from the reliable material reviewed through Sept. 30. Farrell therefore remains accused, not convicted, of voluntary manslaughter. For Pysher’s family, the court case is now one part of a story that began with plans for baseball, classes and a future in education and ended before those plans could start.
Author note: Last updated September 30, 2026.