An unarmed New Jersey college student was fatally shot by cops after mistakenly attempting to enter a stranger’s home instead of his friend’s following a night of bar-hopping, according to his family.
Glenn “Bubba” Pysher, 22, was out celebrating a friend’s birthday at a local bar in Upper Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night when the group decided it was time to move the party to the friend’s house, his mother, Erin Pysher, told WPVI.
Pysher decided to walk to his pal’s house — but instead “ended up at the wrong house after having a few drinks,” she told the outlet.
“He ended up at the wrong house after having a few drinks. He didn’t know that, so he was knocking on the door saying, ‘Hey, let me in.’ Thinking it was his friend’s house, but it wasn’t,” his mother said.
Just before 12:30 a.m., local cops rushed to respond to a 911 call of a possible attempted break-in at the residence where Pysher attempted to enter, according to the Montgomery District Attorney’s Office.
The couple inside the home had gotten startled and called police, the outlet reported.
Cops found Pysher in the rear of the residence, where an “encounter ensued” — leading officers to fatally shoot him, authorities said.
“12:32, he was on the phone with his friends. By 12:35, I believe he’s already shot. So, within a few minutes, the cop pulled up and shot him. He was unarmed. He had a cell phone and a book bag,” his devastated mom said.
Pysher was a “wonderful young man” who was set to start classes at Saint Elizabeth University in New Jersey on Monday.
He had recently transferred to the school and was slated to play on their baseball team, his family told the local outlets.
When off the field, the college student was a “lovable goofball,” his heartbroken mother told WPVI.
“He will walk in the back door and say his favorite thing, ‘Hey mom, your favorite kid is home.’ He was just happy-go-lucky. Didn’t have a care in the world, and I’m going to miss that,” Erin Pysher said.
It is not yet clear why officers opened fire at Pysher. The deadly shooting was caught on surveillance cameras in the backyard of the property, and the footage is part of the investigation, the outlet reported.
“To see someone that has so much potential because he was so excited about going back to school, lose their life, it hurts,” a family friend, Kia, told Fox 29. “He was an amazing soul, young man, never got in any trouble, well-respected.”
“What happened? Could it have been de-escalated? We don’t know, but we want to figure that out,” she said.
The Montgomery County Detective’s Bureau is investigating the shooting, the district attorney’s office said.
