
Bravery Commendation For Barnshaw
Photos courtesy of the Lower Providence Police Department.
Our volunteer fire chief John Barnshaw was one of seven police officers awarded a Bravery Commendation on October 21st at the Lower Providence Township Board of Supervisors meeting.
John was recognized for his bravery in an incident over the summer in his role as a Collegeville police officer. Thanks John for being an outstanding First Responder and being a leader everyday!
Details below from the Lower Providence Police Department’s Facebook page:
Last night, at the Lower Providence Township Board of Supervisors meeting, seven officers were awarded a Bravery Commendation and six officers were awarded a Unit Commendation by Chief Jackson for their professional actions and bravery involving an armed suspect on June 10, 2021.
The incident began when a Lower Providence Township Code Enforcement Officer entered the residence of 4045 Cardin Place to perform an inspection at the home for known hoarding conditions. The resident, Thomas Razzi, immediately displayed a firearm and began to act aggressively toward the Code Enforcement Officer, who was fortunate enough to exit the residence and get to safety. A call was placed into 9-1-1 and moments after officers arrived on scene, they were met with loud explosions and gunfire that could be heard from within Razzi’s residence. The residence quickly became engulfed in flames and officers immediately developed a plan to safely evacuate the residents in the surrounding homes. The officers were able to accomplish this task under dangerous and difficult circumstances with no injuries to residents or emergency responders. After safely evacuating the residents, the officers remained on scene to provide security for fire personnel, who were called to suppress the building fire that destroyed several homes.
Bravery Commendations were awarded to Sergeant Matthew Kuhnert, Corporal Robert Heim, Officer Reginald Nealy, Officer Matthew Barber, Corporal Brian Bishop (West Norriton Police), Detective William Murphy (Bridgeport Police) and Officer John Barnshaw (Collegeville Police).
Unit Commendations were awarded to Lieutenant William Hopkins, Detective-Sergeant Michael Higgins, Sergeant Ryan Singleton, Detective Scott Dreibelbis, Detective Charles King, Detective Michael Nastasi, and Fire Marshal Michael Rohlfing. We are extremely proud of these officers and thank them for their teamwork, bravery and professional actions. Well done by all, congratulations!