Husband and wife, Nathan and Betty Tibaldi, were involved in a seven-hour-long standoff with Pennsylvania police that resulted in Betty being killed.
Betty, 54, shot at police as Nathan, 77, surrendered after getting out of their pickup truck on Route 611 in Monroe’s Pocono Township.
The pursuit began after police checked Betty behind American Candle Shoppe before 11 P.M., which was after business hours, where court papers from Nathan state she had taken their dog to relieve himself.
Officers say the couple’s dog began acting aggressively towards them before she put him away into the vehicle. Betty then sped off with the dog and Nathan inside, which started the pursuit.
Police later deployed spike strips on the couple’s pickup truck along Route 611, where the standoff would soon begin. Drone footage and officer observations recount Nathan with a Taurus G2C in his right hand.
Deescalation attempts by law enforcement further revealed Betty’s mentally ill state in which she thought police would “rape and murder” her and was “rambling with paranoid delusions,” court papers state.
Nathan later on surrendered, but not before leaving the pistol with Betty in the vehicle. As he surrendered, Betty fired at police, which prompted the state police Special Emergency Response Team members to return fire, one of which struck and killed the mentally ill woman.
Above all, we should not undermine the state of one’s mental health. These things can influence a criminal hell-bent on violence to cause further harm to not only themselves but innocent people.
With her history of mental illness at still a seemingly young age, she likely did not receive the right help with her to think of the herein stated paranoid delusions, as she even thought her stepson who tried to intervene was being held hostage by police.
Why the husband left the weapon with her is puzzling, as her state of mind was bound to create more destruction, but fortunately, no one else was harmed as a result. Mr. Tibaldi has been charged under “accomplice liability” for leaving the weapon with her knowing of her condition.
The court district attorney’s office is still investigating the incident.
