The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges of criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, assault of a law enforcement officer, and persons not to possess a firearm against the subject involved in the officer-involved shooting incident in Lancaster City on November 29, 2023.

William Oneill, 40 of the 100 block of Hershey Ave., stands charged with the crimes. He remains in critical but stable condition at a local hospital under guard and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

On Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 4:40 a.m., officers from the Lancaster City Bureau of Police were dispatched to Oneill’s residence for a request to remove a male causing a disturbance. The caller relayed the man was now outside the residence and in possession of an AR-15 rifle.

During the 911 call, the caller identified the male as Oneill and that he had fired the weapon outside twice during the call. Responding officers heard the second shot upon arrival.

At approximately 4:46 a.m., officers arrived at the residence and heard a gunshot before encountering Oneill brandishing an AR-15 rifle in the side yard area of the residence. A review of the police vehicle’s MVR indicated that Oneill raised the rifle and shot in the direction of the first-arriving officers. The officers yelled multiple commands for Oneill to drop the rifle, which he refused, and Oneill walked to the front of the residence and leveled the rifle in the direction of another responding officer.

Three responding officers fired their duty weapons, hitting Oneill and causing him to drop his weapon and fall to the ground.

A subsequent criminal history check revealed Oneill has previous criminal convictions in Pennsylvania for aggravated assault in 2001 and rape by forcible compulsion in 2008, making him a person not to possess a firearm by statute.

The Lancaster County Forensic team conducted a scene examination and located an empty shell casing in the rear porch area, another empty shell casing in the side yard area, and a live round in the side yard area of the residence. The weapon Oneill possessed during the incident was identified as a Ruger AR-556 rifle with a live round stuck in the chamber.

A review of body-worn camera footage from the third responding officer confirmed Oneill raised the rifle to a shooting position while officers yelled commands for him to drop the weapon, which Oneill refused.

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams will review the incident and make a formal determination at a later date regarding police use of force.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office at 717-299-8100 and ask to speak with a detective.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.