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Thomas M. Vance in the first block of Jones Street around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. He was taken "to a Dauphin County Medical Facility where he died from his injuries," the Lebanon City police said at the time.
More than a year later, we now know what motivated the shooting based on new information shared by the district attorney's office.
On Tuesday, May 2, Vance witnessed the police arrest a man who had some of his items, so the following day, when Vance went to the man's home "for the initial purpose of locating his left-behind, personal items," the DA's release stated.
When he arrived at the home, he came upon a man working a car parked outside. Vance, along with a friend, asked him if he could talk to the person who had his things, but the man asked to not get involved. As Vance and his friend were leaving, he loudly called someone and said that the man had just "lied" to him, and then he walked back toward the home, "squared up" his body, and braced for a fight, as explained in the release.
He jumped forward multiple times, and the man working on the car did the following according to the DA's office citing a video a neighbor submitted to the police:
"[The man] swung a silver tool held in his left hand towards Vance; Vance appeared to reach into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt and extract a handheld weapon. The investigation revealed a backpack carried by Vance before and after the incident; the front pouch revealed a switchblade knife with apparent fresh blood. DNA forensic testing showed the blood belonged to Vance."
The fight escalated even more when Vance reached for a black pipe on the ground between them. The man swung his silver tool to block Vance from grabbing the pipe – this caused him to lose control of the pipe allowing Vance to grab it. He then chased the man, grabbed him, and used an overhand motion to strike the pipe over the man’s head. The man fell to the ground, but as he fell, the following happened:
"Vance grabbed him and again used an overhand motion to strike the [man]’s head with the pipe. The [man] yelled ‘you’re going to jail’ and Vance walked away. Vance walked in the direction of the [man]’s vehicle, which was surrounded by the [man]’s own tools. The [man] stood and walked to his vehicle – parked in his own spot and on his own property. The [man] opened the front passenger’s door and retrieved his handgun. The gun was lawfully purchased and lawfully possessed by the [man]. The [man] pointed the gun in Vance’s direction; Vance taunted him, chased him, and continued to aggressively hold onto the black pipe. The [man] moved away from Vance. Vance continued to chase. The [man] told Vance to ‘get away from him;’ Vance continued to aggressively follow the [man] despite the gun pointed in his direction and the verbal directive to stay away. After multiple efforts to evade Vance, the [man] fired one time at Vance’s upper torso."
After being shot, Vance "walked away, dropped the pipe, and picked up his nearby backpack" and he and his friend left, as noted in the release. Further down the street "Vance collapsed on the ground. He remained in that position until medical help arrived on-scene minutes later."
The coroner's report revealed his cause of death as being due to "a lone gunshot wound."
The man who shot Vance called 911, but explained that he "felt he acted lawfully to defend himself. He told police before he fired the gun, Vance struck him in the head. [He] waited on-scene for police to arrive and retrieve his weapon," the DA's release stated.
When the authorities arrived they noted visible "lumps on his head consistent with being struck with a pipe."
The state of Pennsylvania's laws about the use of "deadly force and self-defense, and the heightened protections they provide to a person in his or her own or on his or her own property, apply," the DA's office noted.
"The law provides a man may use deadly force when necessary to defend himself from a deadlyincident which occurs in or directly outside of his own home. Special protections are given underthe law for the use of deadly force when in your private residence – these protections are oftenreferred to as the ‘Castle Doctrine.’"
The man's shooting of Vance was deemed "justified" under the "Castle Doctrine," the release concludes.
DA Hess Graf believes Vance's death was "wholly avoidable" if only he had "chosen a lawful route to reclaim his property, had he not approached a second time aggressively, had he at any moment walked away in lieu of escalating the situation."
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