Last week, police entered the Pennsylvania home of a 15 foot long python to find it wrapped around it’s unconscious owner’s neck. Officers engaged the snake, shooting it in the head and killing it.
On Monday of this week, the owner of the snake, Elliot Senseman, 27 died in the hospital. The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office and Forensics Center issued a statement that blamed an “anoxic brain injury” for Senseman’s death.
According to Lieutenant Peter Nickischer of the Upper Macungie Township Police Department, the snake died from its injuries sustained from police.
Lt. Nickischer told CNN that two police officers arrived to Senseman’s Fogelsville, Pennsylvania house at 2:12PM. According to responding officers, Senseman was suffering from cardiac arrest due to the snake’s grip on the man’s throat.
Nickischer said, “It was a dire situation. It was without a doubt a life-and-death situation for this person.”
One officer, according to Nickischer, observed Senseman lying on the floor across a doorway, choked by the snake who clearly observed the police presence. When the snake refused to comply with police orders, one of the officers fired a shot from their service weapon, striking the snake in the head.
The man was freed from his deceased reptilian attacker, moved into the living room of the house, and treated by EMTs before being moved to the hospital.
Officers found two other snakes living in the house with Senseman. Those two snakes were not charged and have not been available for comment.
