(CNN)Ciara Meyer stood directly behind her father as he raised a .223-caliber rifle and pointed it at the chest of a constable who'd come to serve an eviction notice at their apartment.
The constable responded with a single shot.
That bullet went through the arm of 57-year-old Donald Meyer and into his 12-year-old daughter, Ciara, killing her.
Meyer now faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report. He was flown to Hershey Medical Center for treatment after Monday's shooting in Perry County.
The man who shot him, Constable Clarke Steele, is "heartbroken" over the incident, his friend and fellow constable Bill Stoeffler
told CNN affiliate WPMT-TV.
"He was put in a position from which he couldn't retreat safely," Stoeffler said of the shooting, calling it "every constable's worst nightmare." "He had no other option, really, than what he did."
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Comments on a GoFundMe page set up in Ciara's name -- ostensibly to raise money for her funeral expenses and fund a scholarship focused on domestic violence -- reflected the strong emotions her death elicited. A CNN request to verify the page's authenticity was not immediately confirmed.
Some admonished her father for putting his daughter in harm's way. One man said the constable should have stood down and walked away, saying any money owed wasn't worth it. Most paid tribute to the victim in the tragedy.
"Fly high, sweet angel," one woman wrote of Ciara. "Rest in peace."
Police: Father pointed loaded rifle at constableDonald Meyer knew the constable was coming, Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Hicks told WPMT. His family had gotten multiple notifications, with the last making it clear a constable was on the way with an eviction notice.
"When they heard the knock, they knew who it was," Hicks said.
When Steele arrived at 10 a.m. Monday, "the suspect opened the door to the residence and then shut it," according to the police report.
Meyer then reopened the door and, after "a brief exchange of words," leveled a rifle that had been concealed and aimed it at Steele.
"Constable Steele, who was in uniform, quickly removed his .40 caliber duty weapon from its holster and fired a single round," the police report said, noting that employees of the apartment complex witnessed the encounter.
That bullet "shattered the bone in (Meyer's) left arm," Hicks told
CNN affiliate WHTM-TV, then went into the body of Ciara, who had stayed home sick from school.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the police report.
Investigators recovered the rifle her father had been carrying and found it with "a loaded chamber and a magazine containing 30 rounds."
watch the video. The suspect is a dbag and should rot in jail, but I'm not sure how you watch that video and think the cop was not at fault. They said it was "accidental." Didnt look like it to me
Anyway, there always seems to be something these people do that causes the cops to shoot them. Obviously this dude didn't deserve it and the cop is is not only toast he also should have enver been a cop to begin with but, man, use your head and don't do anything that even remotely doesn't follow directions. I mean, c'mon, don't try and pull up your baggy oversized shorts. Man, I let my junk hang out in that case. I know I risk the officer mistaking my crank for a 12 gauge shotgun but you gotta comply.
