USU Alumnus, Army Veteran Renders Aid to Troopers After Pennsylvania Shootout
Uniformed Services University (USU) graduate draws on military medical training to support troopers and first responders after Pennsylvania shooting
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USU graduate Dr. Vincent Barnhart brought his trauma training and experience to an unfolding emergency when two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were seriously injured in a shootout near Greencastle, PA. (Pennsylvania State Police image courtesy of Shutterstock) |
November 13, 2025 by Sharon Holland
When two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were seriously injured in a shootout near Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on October 8, 2025, a Uniformed Services University (USU) graduate happened to be in exactly the right place — and had exactly the right training — to help.
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Dr. Vincent Barnhart, a 1995 USU School of Medicine graduate. (Courtesy photo) |
“I didn’t even think about it. In that moment, I was just doing what needed to be done. It’s what I was trained to do,” Barnhart later said.
A retired U.S. Army physician with three decades of military service, including a tour in Baghdad, Barnhart brought his trauma training and experience to the unfolding emergency. During his military career, Barnhart served as both a brigade and division surgeon, responsible for managing medical operations and leading combat casualty care and training.
Climbing a berm between the parking lot and the highway, Barnhart saw officers providing aid to a person on the ground. Identifying himself as a doctor, he was directed across the road to assist with the two wounded troopers. When he arrived, he found that the troopers on scene had already initiated well-coordinated lifesaving measures. One injured officer had a tourniquet applied to his upper thigh above a gunshot wound, and other troopers were packing clot-promoting gauze into another wound. A second trooper had a tourniquet placed above the elbow to control bleeding from an arm wound, while another responder was applying pressure to a lower-body injury.
Barnhart quickly joined the effort, helping assess the severity of injuries, assisting with the application of pressure dressings, and advising troopers as they worked. Drawing on his combat medical experience, he conducted a rapid assessment to rule out additional trauma and remained with the injured officers until emergency medical services arrived.
Helicopters soon airlifted the troopers to a medical center in York, Pa. According to statements made by Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris, the rapid response by first responders, the use of tourniquets and trauma kits, and Barnhart’s immediate assistance were instrumental in saving the troopers’ lives. Both officers were later released from the hospital.
Barnhart emphasized that the credit belonged to the troopers on the scene. “My role, in my estimation, was working with and giving advice to the troopers providing aid and reassuring the injured policemen,” he said. “I don't know that I affected the long-term outcome of either trooper.”
While he downplayed his involvement, colleagues and law enforcement officials praised his readiness to act under pressure. “Having had full trauma training, he knew what support was needed,” said WellSpan spokesperson Ryan Coyle in news reports of the incident. “He continued to help on the scene until EMS arrived.”
Interestingly, Barnhart said, as he was returning to his office to wash his hands after leaving the scene, he noticed his own car had been hit by gunfire.
Since retiring from military service, Barnhart, a Pennsylvania native, has continued to serve his community as a family medicine physician with WellSpan Health, first in Mercersburg and now in Greencastle.
