PHILADELPHIA -
As crime scene investigators dusted for fingerprints at his family's Andorra home, veteran Warminster Police Officer Chris McCole stood outside talking to investigators and friends, just hours after he met an unwelcome burglar face-to-face in an upstairs bedroom and fatally shot the intruder.
"Thank God it was a police officer who could do something about it before his family was hurt," said neighbor Sharon Fischer.
"We're just glad our officer is OK and that Philadelphia Police responded in a timely fashion, helped our officer and did an outstanding, professional job," said Lt. Jim Donnelly of the Warminster Police.
Police say the off-duty McCole, his wife and four children were asleep around 4 a.m. when he heard someone rifling through his Honda minivan. He went to investigate and the suspect took off in the vehicle. The 23-year veteran officer returned to the house, got his family out, then grabbed his gun and confronted a second burglar inside his home in a second floor bedroom where he fired the fatal shots.
"Thank God he was home and not on duty, which was another blessing." Mrs. Fischer said.
"He's an outstanding officer," Donnelly said. "Just a model police officer."
Police rushed to the scene and immediately began searching for the second suspect and McCole's stolen Honda Odyssey minivan.
Police found it a few blocks away. The suspect was spotted by an off-duty Philadelphia officer and arrested near the Valley Green Inn just before 6 a.m.
The early-morning ordeal rattled this quiet neighborhood.
"There's been minor things years ago, but nothing like this," a neighbor said.
McCole is a veteran member of the Bucks County SWAT team and is about to be promoted. He and his family escaped unharmed. Friends and neighbors are just glad the family is safe.
"Hopefully he'll recover from this and move forward," Donnelly added.
"I'm sure we'll all be on the lookout now for one another," Fischer said.
The shooting is under investigation by the homicide unit and internal affairs. Police identified the slain intruder as 39-year-old Edward Mehlberger, of Kensington, and the second suspect as 29-year-old Timothy Zgrzepski, also of Kensington. No weapon was found inside the home.
