Event: Criminal Homicide
Location: 508 Clearview Road
Municipality: Clay Township
Date: September 25, 2014
Time: 23:04 Hours
NLCRPD Case Number: 86-14- 07473

The Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department continues the investigation of the September 2014 shooting death of an adult male, and the wounding of another man that occurred during a home invasion.

NLCRPD officers were dispatched to a private residence located in the 500 block of Clearview Road in Clay Township shortly after 11:00 PM on September 25, 2014, for a reported shooting with two victims. According to occupants of the residence two males wearing masks and dressed in dark colored clothing entered the home and shot two of the home’s occupants. NLCRPD patrol officers found one subject later identified as BRETT SIMMONS, age 23, who was confirmed deceased at the scene from gunshot wounds and another subject found seriously wounded who was transported for treatment of his gunshot injuries at the Lancaster General Hospital. Members of the NLCRPD Forensic Services Unit (FSU) conducted a forensic examination of the crime scene, collecting, packaging, and preserving items of potential evidentiary value, and documents the crime scene with crime scene mapping and photography. The NLCRPD was assisted in the on-scene investigative phase by the Office of the Lancaster County District Attorney and the Office of the Lancaster County Coroner.

Brett Simmons was a 2009 Ephrata High School graduate who went on to take some classes at Temple University and Harrisburg Area Community College. He was worked at a Lancaster city restaurant at the time of his death. Family and acquaintances said he was viewed as a “stand-up guy” with a lot of friends. Simmons’ father, James Simmons, who was in the family’s Clearview Road home that night, told police he encountered two men in Brett’s bedroom and struggled with them, being shot in the process. The two intruders, who wore clothing of some sort over their faces, escaped the home, likely, in a vehicle needed for a getaway through a rural section of Clay Township. He was shot in the chest, as was his father, who was critically wounded, but has since returned to work. Brett’s brother, Blake Simmons, told police he was downstairs when he heard gunshots from upstairs. He said he struck one of the intruders with a Lava Lamp.

While the NLCRPD investigators have not identified a single known enemy of Brett’s. it is believed the males, described as light-skinned and of average build, specifically targeted the Simmons home and knew the house layout. In ensuing years since Brett Simmons’ murder, police interviewed over 190 people, searched dozens of phones for evidence, and followed countless other leads and amassed an extensive and comprehensive investigative case file. Detective Theresa Stauffer, of Northern Lancaster County Regional police, has explored numerous avenues and leads in the killing. Persons of interest have been developed in the case, Stauffer said, but were either cleared or are still under the umbrella of suspicion with the ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to call the NLCRPD at 717-733-0965. Callers do not have to give their names. Also, Lancaster City/County Crime Stoppers is offering a reward, up to $1,000, for information that leads to an arrest. Tips can be left there at 800-322-1913. Anyone having further information or who may have been a witness to this event is requested to contact the NLCRPD at 717-733-0965 or, Crimewatch TIPS or via the department’s web page at www.nlcrpd.org.