Three police officers were fatally shot and two wounded Wednesday in southern Pennsylvania, and the shooter was killed by police, authorities said.

The officers were at the scene, amid rolling farmland, to follow up on a domestic-related investigation that began the previous day.

"I grew up in this area. It's strange walking down this road now and seeing all these cars and knowing what happened here with the shooting and the three officers that actually got killed and two were wounded," York resident, Bryan Rice said.

It was one of the deadliest days for Pennsylvania police this century. In 2009 three Pittsburgh officers responding to a domestic disturbance were ambushed and shot to death by a man in a bulletproof vest.

Condolences began pouring in from police departments across the region on social media and people began leaving flowers at the headquarters of the Northern York Regional Police Department.

The shooting erupted in the area of North Codorus Township, about 115 miles (185 km) west of Philadelphia, not far from the Maryland line, authorities said.