Video of Deadly Shooting Involving Bradford County Deputies

Bradford County Sheriff's Deputies Justin Hanson and Sgt. Russell Gordon respond to a disturbance call in the morning of October 7th, 2018 at Northwest 216th Street, also known as Crawford Road.



Dispatchers tell the deputies a man with a history of mental illness has not been taking his medications and that he is throwing items out of his residence.



The subject of the call is Anthony Hodges.



As the deputies pull into the driveway, they see a Bradford School District bus parked to the west of the driveway. They also note the location in, to the southeast of the driveway, around 125 yards across an open field.



Family members talk to Hanson and Gordon about Hodges and inform them that he has an AR-15 assault weapon in the shed. The officers make contact with Hodges via mobile phone and attempt to persuade him to meet with them in person. The deputies tell Hodges they want to help him. Hodges tells the deputies he does not want them on the property.



Initially, Hodges starts to walk toward the officers unarmed, with his mobile phone. He then turns back, shouts an obscenity at the officers, throws the phone onto the ground and returns to the shed. Hodges emerges from the shed with the assault weapon. Gordon orders Hanson to take cover and Hodges opens fire on Gordon’s patrol vehicle. The two officers retreat behind the school bus, which offers better protection.



Once behind the bus, Hanson and Gordon momentarily lose sight of Hodges. Hanson looks under the bus and sees Hodges walking around the front of the bus toward them. The two officers run around the rear of the bus toward Hanson’s patrol vehicle. Hodges emerges from the front of the bus. Hanson stumbles while running toward his patrol car. From a sitting position, Hanson fires rounds and hears Hodges “I got pain.” Hodges drops the weapon, turns, then falls to the ground. Gordon and Hanson then move toward Hodges.



Previous sequence from Hanson’s patrol car dash cam: When Hanson stumbles, he is left unprotected as Hodges comes around the bus. In a telephone interview, Hanson recalled thinking: “This is where I die.”



However, Hodges is focused on Gordon, positioned behind Hanson’s vehicle. Recalled Hanson: “I saw him point the gun at sarge.” Hanson fires rounds and hears Hodges yell and fall.



Hanson finds a single gunshot wound to Hodges’s abdomen. He and Gordon administer first aid until Bradford EMS arrives on scene. A second wound is later found in Hodges’s elbow. Hodges later dies.



In November, a grand jury ruled Hodges’s death justifiable homicide.