Matthew Todd Bowersox, a 52-year-old White male from Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, died after a violent shooting on the evening of July 10, 2020, outside the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant near Selinsgrove in Monroe Township, Snyder County. Authorities identified him as one of two victims killed that night, along with 46-year-old Heather Campbell of Trevorton. Bowersox was remembered in obituary notices as a Mifflinburg High School graduate, a sales consultant at Brookside Homes in Selinsgrove, a father, and someone close to his family. He was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. at Geisinger Medical Center.
The shooting unfolded in the restaurant parking lot around 8 p.m. According to authorities, Campbell and Bowersox had been outside the restaurant when Christopher Tauren Fernanders, Campbell’s ex-husband, drove into the lot, got out of his pickup truck, and opened fire. Witness accounts reported that Campbell and Bowersox had been seen hugging shortly before the attack. The case was quickly described by Snyder County officials as a premeditated double homicide, with investigators saying Fernanders had targeted Campbell and also killed Bowersox during the attack.
Investigators later described a trail of planning before the killings. Campbell had obtained a temporary protection-from-abuse order against Fernanders on July 1, 2020, after he had been charged in late June with terroristic threats in Northumberland County. Police said evidence found after the shooting included an Amcrest GPS tracker attached to the undercarriage of Campbell’s vehicle, and an empty tracker box was reportedly found during a search connected to Fernanders. Authorities said the tracker had been used to follow Campbell’s movements, placing the attack in the context of stalking and domestic violence.
The attack ended when an armed bystander, later identified in local reporting as Troy Sprenkle, intervened. Sprenkle had been at the restaurant, was legally carrying a concealed firearm, and fired at Fernanders after the shooting began, striking and incapacitating him. Snyder County District Attorney Michael Piecuch later determined that Sprenkle’s use of deadly force was legally justified because it was done in self-defense and in defense of others. No charges were filed against the bystander.
Fernanders was taken into custody at the scene after being wounded. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, along with firearms violations, stalking, violation of a protection-from-abuse order, and related offenses. The charges reflected both the killings themselves and the conduct prosecutors said came before them, including the alleged stalking and possession or use of a firearm despite the protection-from-abuse restrictions.
The case moved through Snyder County court, and Fernanders eventually pleaded guilty. On January 20, 2022, he admitted to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said the plea brought the criminal case to a close, while the district attorney extended condolences to the families and friends of Heather Campbell and Matthew Bowersox. As he left court after sentencing, Fernanders apologized, saying he was sorry for what happened.
