Joseph Anthony Pacini was killed after investigators said he attacked police officers with his car. Earlier, Pacini had posted videos online threatening police with terroristic attacks.
A man who posted YouTube videos threatening law enforcement officials was shot and killed by police after he allegedly tried to run them over with his car in Delaware County Tuesday.
The man, identified by police as 52-year-old Joseph Anthony Pacini, had been charged Sunday with making terroristic threats, according to court records. He had also been charged in 2005 with making terroristic threats in Philadelphia, according to police.
Haverford Police, Clifton Police and a regional SWAT team went to Pacini's home in Clifton Heights late Tuesday afternoon to serve a warrant, according to investigators. They then followed him as he drove away from the home into Drexel Hill.
He was eventually stopped by Clifton Heights, Upper Darby and Haverford Police officers at Garrett Road and Shadeland Avenue. After officers told him to get out of the car, Pacini allegedly put his car in reverse and accelerated, slamming into the vehicle of the Clifton Heights Police chief.
Pacini then allegedly tried to run over other officers with his vehicle. Five of the officers took out their weapons and opened fire, striking him several times. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were hurt during the ordeal.
Pacini was not armed at the time and may have had mental health issues, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Haverford Police Chief Carmine Pettine told NBC News the terroristic threat charge from Sunday stemmed from an incident that occurred at an LA Fitness on West Chester Pike. While at the gym, Pacini allegedly openly made threats against law enforcement that weren't aimed at anyone in particular.
Pettine would not elaborate on the nature of the threats but claimed Pacini was "saying them to whoever would listen to him."
Staff at the gym contacted police about Pacini's behavior and a Haverford police detective called Pacini, asking him to come to the police station.
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Pacini never complied with the request however, according to police. Instead he posted videos on YouTube Monday and Tuesday addressing, among other things, the terroristic threat charge against him.
In the videos, Pacini claims he was falsely accused of crimes he didn't commit, begs for singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles to save him and threatens to kill law enforcement officers who were following him.
"You wanna try to bring me down?!" he screams in one of the videos. "I will f*****g kill you and your whole f*****g family!"
Pacini also asks Bareilles, a singer best known for her 2007 hit single "Love Song," to come to his rescue while calling her his "twin flame soul mate."
"Now Sara, this is up to you to come out and save me," he says. "You've got probably 12 to 24 hours tops. I'm waiting on you."
Pacini also claims he had "two lifetime prison sentences" and was "locked up into several insane asylums."
Pacini also repeatedly states that he refused to go back to prison.
"Clearly these guys want me dead or in prison and there's no way in hell I'm going back to prison," he says.
In another video, Pacini warns there would be "consequences," if he was arrested.
"There will be serious and irreversible, catastrophic consequences that no one wants," he says. "There is no way that I will allow anyone to take my freedom away again."
