Why Should Delaware Care?
A Delaware state trooper was killed in an unprovoked attack by a shooter at the Division of Motor Vehicles office in New Castle on Tuesday afternoon. It is the first line of duty killing of an officer in four years.
A Delaware state trooper was shot and killed in an ambush attack at a Division of Motor Vehicles service center on Tuesday.
According to law enforcement, Corporal Grade One Matthew T. “Ty” Snook, 34, was working the check-in desk of the DMV office at 2230 Hessler Blvd. as part of an overtime assignment when the 44-year-old suspect entered the building. As some of the busiest service centers in the state, troopers are frequently stationed at DMV offices.
After lingering for a short while, the suspect approached Snook and pulled out a gun, shooting him.
After being shot, Snook reportedly pushed another DMV employee out of harm’s way before the suspect shot the trooper a second time.
Multiple police agencies responded to calls for an active shooter at the DMV office, and a New Castle County police officer confronted and shot the suspect, police reported.
The suspect was taken to an area hospital where he died of his injuries, police reported. Snook was also taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Snook, a 10-year veteran of the Delaware State Police from Hockessin, was married with a 1-year-old daughter.
He was hired on March 6, 2015, as a member of the 88th Delaware State Police Recruit Class. Following the successful completion of academy and field training, he was assigned to Troop 6 at Prices Corner. Snook served on C-shift throughout his career, where he was “known as a dependable, professional, and committed trooper,” according to DSP officials.
A native Delawarean, Snook was a graduate of Saint Mark’s High School and the University of Maryland, where he was a member of the wrestling team.
“[Snook] loved his community. He served with honor and integrity, and his life was cut short by senseless violence. His last actions were that of a hero; a hero who saved lives today while sacrificing himself,” DSP Col. William Crotty said in comments at a Tuesday night press conference.
It is the first line of duty killing of a law enforcement officer in Delaware since Delmar Police Cpl. Keith Heacook was killed in an assault by a suspect. The Delaware State Police has not had a line of duty death since 2017, when Cpl. Stephen Ballard was killed in a shooting at a Bear Wawa.
There were about 50 employees serving an unknown number of people in the facility at the time, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation.
The shooter apparently did not take aim at others.
A 40-year-old woman was taken to an area hospital for minor, non-gunshot-related injuries and a 35-year-old woman was evaluated for shortness of breath, according to police.
A second trooper reportedly sustained a minor non-gunshot-related injury during the incident.
Gov. Matt Meyer said that the “heart of Delaware was broken” over the loss of the trooper.
“What happened today was an act of pure evil, and if not for the heroism of several troopers and other officers, the consequences could have been so much worse,” Meyer said at the press conference. “Moments like this remind us of the tremendous risk our law enforcement officers and first responders take and the courage that they demonstrate every single day.”
All DMV locations are closed Wednesday out of respects for Snook. They were already scheduled to be closed on Thursday for Christmas.
Such a brazen ambush attack on a law enforcement officer is unprecedented in Delaware history. The vast majority of line of duty deaths have come from vehicle crashes, but several officers have been killed in struggles or shootings with suspects in recent years.
The incident recalls the 2014 ambush murders of New York Police Department officers as they sat in their patrol vehicle.