Holmesburg man charged with burglary, assault in attack before Bucks County police shooting
One of William Campbell's relatives told police he had been acting erratically for days before he authorities say he threatened a police officer and bystanders with a boxcutter and metal chain.
A Holmesburg man, screaming that he was an “angel of death,” threatened residents of a Buckingham Township street with a box cutter and chain before being shot by a police officer during a violent confrontation Saturday, officials said Tuesday.
William Campbell, 52, has been charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, and burglary after he followed a bystander into his home while wielding those improvised weapons, police say.
Campbell was shot twice by a Buckingham Township police officer who responded to Redfield Road to reports that Campbell had crashed his van into a pickup truck parked in the driveway of a home there, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
The shooting came, police said, after Campbell ignored commands to drop the weapons.
He was treated at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center until Monday, when he was discharged and taken into police custody.
Campbell remained in custody after his arraignment Tuesday, in lieu of 10% of $250,000 bail, court records show. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
Witnesses told police Campbell had been driving his van erratically and at high speed before the crash, the affidavit said.
He jumped the curb and veered onto the lawn of a home on Redfield Road, hitting a pickup truck parked outside the residence hard enough to disable both vehicles.
Afterward, Campbell got out of the van and began shouting incoherently, his ramblings full of religious imagery and political statements, investigators said.
He confronted one resident who had left his home to investigate after hearing the crash, threatening the man with a box cutter and a chain with a pointed metal end, according to the affidavit.
The homeowner ordered Campbell to leave his property. Campbell refused and chased the man into his attached garage, but left after the man shut and locked a door leading into his home, the affidavit said.
Around that time, an officer — whom investigators did not identify — arrived at the scene and ordered Campbell to drop the box cutter he was pointing at the officer, the affidavit said.
The officer used a Taser on Campbell when he did not comply, and Campbell pulled the Taser’s prong out of his body. The officer then shot Campbell twice as he continued to ignore his commands and walk toward him, and the bullets struck Campbell in the abdomen.
Investigators found buprenorphine, a synthetic opioid used to treat opioid addiction, and naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, in Campbell’s pockets after the shooting.
Afterward, investigators spoke to one of Campbell’s relatives, who said that his “behavior had become erratic as of late,” according to the affidavit. She said his mental state had deteriorated rapidly over the previous few days, to the point where his younger sons were sent to stay with their grandparents for their safety.
Campbell, his relative said, believed that outside forces were speaking to him and controlling his television, the affidavit said.
On Friday evening, a mobile-crisis unit was dispatched to Campbell’s home to treat his mental health symptoms. Medical personnel did not accept him for an inpatient evaluation because he had not threatened to harm himself or anyone else, according to the affidavit.
Campbell left his home Saturday morning to begin his work as a flooring contractor, his relative said. She said she last heard from him at 3 p.m., about a half-hour before the car crash in Buckingham Township.
He was behaving strangely, she told police, and speaking to her over the phone “with a Chinese accent.”
Campbell is scheduled to appear before a district judge for a preliminary hearing on May 8. The shooting involving the Buckingham officer is being investigated by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.