LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A Reading man pled guilty and was sentenced to aggravated assault and other charges after he used a flamethrower and drove at a police vehicle.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, 39-year-old Zachary Gilbaugh pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced Gilbaugh to 8 to 20 years in prison.
The United States Marshals Fugitive Task force executed an arrest warrant for Gilbaugh around 6 a.,m. on Feb. 1, 2022, on multiple warrants in different counties, including stalking, protection of abuse violation, criminal trespass, violating probation, and burglary.
During the execution of the warrant, police say Gilbaugh was found in a crawlspace-like area in the basement of a residence and failed to comply with verbal commands from the officers.
Police say during the incident Gilbaugh threatened them with a small blowtorch and cinder blocks.
Officers proceeded to deploy tasers and a ballistic sponge round that were ineffective in getting Gilbaugh to comply. Officers then retreated and evacuated all other people from the residence.
Gilbaugh then exited the front door carrying a large circular saw blade and the blowtorch. He then entered a tan Chrysler minivan, dropping the blade on the ground as he entered. That is when officers converged on the vehicle, trying to get Gilbaugh to comply.
Police say Gilbaugh then accelerated forward while two officers were in front of the vehicle, nearly striking them. While the vehicle moved, officers fired multiple shots at Gilbaugh, who was struck multiple times.
The vehicle crashed into a guardrail and came to a stop across the street; the officers removed the subject from the vehicle and aid was rendered by the officers. The blowtorch was later found by Lancaster County Detectives in the area of the crash.
“I regret what I did,” Gilbaugh said during the proceeding. “I was doing drugs. I apologize.”
The actions of Gilbaugh were caught on video by a nearby surveillance system and reviewed by Lancaster County Detectives. Officers involved in the shooting were cleared after an
“The defendant placed officers in jeopardy of sustaining serious bodily injury or death when he tried to escape in a van,” District Attorney Heather Adams said in March 2022. “This inevitably placed the officers in a situation where they opened fire in self-defense and in defense of the other officers who were in the path of the vehicle.”
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Miller prosecuted the case.
