Fallen Montco Officer Remembered 10 Years After Shooting Death

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, PA — It has been ten years since Plymouth Township police officer Brad Fox was shot and killed while chasing a suspect with his K-9 partner.

Tuesday marks the anniversary of Fox’s killing, a death that reverberated around the local law enforcement community, and ultimately spurred the passage of state legislation instituting mandatory minimum sentencing for those convicted of making straw firearm purchases.

Fox was 34, one day from his birthday, when a convicted criminal shot and killed him during a pursuit September 13, 2012. It was the department's first line of duty death.

"10 years have passed," the township police department said in a Facebook post Tuesday. "To live in the hearts of those we love is never to die. We love you Brad."

On the day of his death, Fox and his four-legged canine partner, Nick, were helping other officers at the scene of a car crash. Another vehicle sped by the scene, almost hitting Fox and the other officers.

Police said Fox and Nick got into their cruiser and followed the driver, who drove recklessly through Plymouth Township, "forcing other motorists off of the roadway and eventually striking another vehicle." The man then stopped and got out of his car, running away on foot.

Fox and K-9 Nick followed the suspect into an industrial area that was overgrown with plants. The hit-and-run suspect, later identified as felon Andrew C. Thomas, 44, had been hiding in wait. Thomas ambushed Fox, fatally shooting him in the head. Nick was also shot, but he survived his wounds.

Thomas then immediately turned the gun on himself and committed suicide, police said.

"Assisting Officers located Officer Fox in the difficult terrain in large part because K9 Nick, though wounded, had remained by his side," police said.

K-9 Nick died last spring. The dog lived with Fox's wife and children after he retired from the department.

Nick was just a young puppy, fresh out of the Philadelphia Canine Police Academy with Fox, when Fox was killed.

After Nick's recovery from the shooting, officials worked hard to make sure that the brave pup could retire and live with Fox's family. Plymouth Township held a ceremony to commemorate his service.

In September 2014, two years after Fox’s death, a stretch of Route 263 (York Road) in Warminster Township, Bucks County was renamed in Fox’s honor. Fox had grown up in Warminster and was a graduate of William Tennent High School.

Fox, who was killed the day before his 35th birthday, was a U.S. Marine combat veteran who had served two tours of duty in Iraq. He left behind a wife, Lynsay, a 5-month-old daughter, and another child who had not yet been born. Hours before his death, Fox reportedly told fellow police officers that his wife was pregnant with their second child.

Fox and his family resided in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County.

In 2017, five years after his death, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed a straw purchase bill restoring a minimum five-year prison sentence for those convicted of making repeated straw purchases of firearms. It was signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Corbett in October of that year.

A straw purchase is when someone who is legally able to purchase a gun does so for someone who is prohibited by law from possessing firearms.

According to media reports, Michael J. Henry was sentenced to between 20 to 66 years in state prison in the summer of 2013 for his role as the straw purchaser of nine guns that he illegally sold to Thomas between April 2012 and July 2012, one of which was the pistol used to kill Fox.

Henry, an admitted drug addict, had said he never intended the guns to be used to hurt anyone, and that he merely needed money to purchase drugs. Thomas, who had a criminal record, reportedly told Henry during the gun buys that he would never go back to prison, and would be willing to shoot a police officer if it meant keeping him from being arrested, according to a past report in the Bucks County Courier Times.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said Thomas had paid Henry $500 each for the guns purchased.

Thomas was later named as the number one suspect in the 1999 disappearance of his fiance, Maria Procopio, according to news reports.

Patch's Jon Campisi and Justin Heinze contributed to this report.