‘Friendly fire’ blamed for killing of US marshal

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A deputy US marshal who was killed in January while trying to serve an arrest warrant in Pennsylvania died by “friendly fire,” the US Marshals Service said Thursday.

Christopher Hill, 45, was accidentally struck by a bullet fired by another member of the law enforcement team serving an arrest warrant on Shayla Lynette Towles Pierce, 30, at a Harrisburg home for threatening a neighbor with a firearm.

When deputy marshals and local police announced themselves and entered the house, they were fired on by Kevin Sturgis, 31, who also was wanted by authorities on charges he shot his pregnant ex-girlfriend in Philadelphia.

Investigators initially believed that Sturgis, who was shot and killed as he tried to flee from the house, had fired the bullet that killed Hill.

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