BUTLER TWP — Blood splatter and droplets on the porch and sidewalk and a bullet hole gouge on the side of the front door were evidence of the officer-involved shooting that played out Sunday morning at Charles Wheeler Sr.’s duplex on Bessemer Avenue in Lyndora.

Below a full moon before dawn, Samuel Wheeler, Charles’ youngest of four children, was armed with a loaded 9 mm rifle he had wrestled away from his 65-year-old father.

Moments earlier, Samuel Wheeler had stormed his family’s home with a hunting knife. Drinking and on several medications for mental heath issues, family said, he was angry after arguing with a former girlfriend.

It was the perfect storm for violence.

“I called 911,” Charles Wheeler said. “I knew (expletive) was getting ready to hit the fan.”

While talking to a dispatcher shortly before 5 a.m., Wheeler heard three shots ring out from outside. The gunfire was Samuel Wheeler standing on the street shooting indiscriminately, into the air and at an open lot nearby, family said.

Township police were on the way.

“It took them freakin’ forever to get here,” Charles Wheeler said.

Soon after township officers came up Bessemer Avenue at Alton Street, two state troopers took up a position down the road on the opposite side by Pacific Street.

Trying to defuse the tense confrontation, Robb Wheeler, older son of Charles Wheeler, coaxed his armed brother back onto the porch.

“(Samuel) is on his knees and he’s looking at Robb at the doorway,” Charles Wheeler recounted. “Something provoked him and he jumped up.”

In the distance toward Pacific Street, Charles Wheeler heard the voice from at least one trooper: “He was saying, ‘Drop the weapon. Drop the weapon.’”

The command was ignored.

“Sam fired one shot at (the trooper),” Wheeler said, “and they opened up on him.”

Wheeler said he did not know if his son was aiming at the trooper or fired at the direction of the officers.

One police shot was fired, apparently from an AR-15. The rifle shot struck Samuel Wheeler on the left hand, mangling the middle finger and wounding the tip of the index finger.

His hand, too, was fractured — possibly from the gunfire or from falling on the porch after he was hit.

“There was blood everywhere,” Charles said.

When Samuel Wheeler fell, the rifle was dislodged from his hand. Robb Wheeler tried to grab it while yelling to police, “He’s down,” referring to his brother.

But Samuel Wheeler beat his brother to the rifle. He got up and again turned to face the troopers, gun in hand.

“He didn’t get a chance to fire,” Charles said. Two police shots, almost simultaneously, were fired — one round missing completely and the other hitting the right side of the door frame, leaving a gaping hole.

Leaving the rifle behind, Samuel Wheeler bolted into the house and out the back door before running into woods nearby, family said.

A short time later, police found him up the road, possibly passed out from the loss of blood.

He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh where he underwent surgery to repair his damaged hand.

The treating surgeon told the family that Samuel Wheeler’s middle finger was so badly injured that it might have to be amputated.

The Wheeler family, who moved here from Corpus Christi, Texas, a little more than three years ago, on Sunday afternoon was still trying to make sense of what happened just eight hours earlier.

“He’s never been violent like this before,” Charles said. “This came out of nowhere.”

The family gave police mixed reviews on how they handled the situation.

“The police have a right to defend themselves, I understand that,” Charles Wheeler said. “But in my opinion, they used too much force. They could have used something else, like beans bags (rounds). or rubber bullets.

“I’m glad none of the police got hurt. They’ve got a hard job to do.”