FORWARD TWP — State police Tuesday responded to a home near Renfrew for a call about an armed man threatening to harm himself and others. Police said when he came out of his house with a rifle pointed at troopers, they shot him.

The man who police did not identify Tuesday night was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. His condition was not known. No troopers were injured.

About 30 troopers, including members of a Special Emergency Response Team and a helicopter, responded to the home at 129 Nursery Road after receiving a call from Butler County Mental Health at 11:47 a.m. reporting that the man in his 70s had made the threats.

Troopers closed the road, took up positions around the house and made multiple calls to him, but he didn't answer the phone, police said.

“Multiple attempts were made to contact the individual,” Trooper Dan Kesten said at a news conference following the incident.

Eventually he came outside and pointed a rifle at the troopers, but didn't fire his weapon, Kesten said.

Troopers then shot and struck the man, he said.

SERT was dispatched due to the risk the man posed to himself, the public and police, Kesten said.

Gunshots were heard at about 3:45 p.m.

Jason Leslie, who lives across the road, said he heard the shots from his parents' house located behind his. He said he had picked up his children from school and took them there so they wouldn't have to witness the incident.

“Nice guy. Nice family,” Leslie said about his across-the-street neighbor.

The man in his late 70s has mental health issues, Leslie said. He said his neighbor lives with his wife, but he didn't know if she was home during the incident.

He said there was another incident this summer in which his neighbor was “hiding.” Leslie said he helped search for him.

“He was an elderly man that had some mental decline,” Leslie said.

He said his neighbor has lived there at least 10 years and he would wave to him when he saw him cutting his grass or taking out the garbage.

“I feel bad for the family. I hope he's OK. I feel bad that something had to escalate to something like this,” Leslie said.

Another neighbor, Malcolm Schirra, said he went out to the part of his property that borders his neighbor's and saw police wearing “flak jackets,” but they wouldn't tell him anything.

Toward the end of the incident he said he heard what he believed was a flashbang.

Schirra said he's known his neighbor for years and remembers how he used to keep honeybees before they died off. He said he was a retired engineer.

“He has some different ideas on things. Typical conspiracy stuff,” Schirra said. “Poor guy.”

Asked what he meant by conspiracy stuff, he said, “He just didn't trust anything. It's not focused on any one thing.”

Schirra said, “How sad. But people get angry. It's an angry time.”

Frederick Gross, another neighbor, said he heard the gunshots from his neighbor's home, which is about 100 yards from his.

“He was a good guy,” Gross said. “A very helpful neighbor. I know he had some problems with his memory because of chemotherapy.”