BLOOMING GROVE, Pa. (AP) — Two troopers were ambushed outside a state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania during a late-night shift change, leaving one dead and another injured, and authorities were searching Saturday for the suspect or suspects, state police said.
One trooper was leaving the barracks in Blooming Grove, Pike County, and another was arriving when shots were fired at 10:50 p.m. Friday, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said. He confirmed that one trooper was killed and the other was injured and taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Scranton, where he was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
Noonan provided few details on the shooting but said the attack seemed to be directed at state police.
“This has been an emotional night for all of us,” he told reporters.
Law enforcement officials from across the region, including New York and New Jersey, descended on northeastern Pennsylvania to help with the search on foot and by helicopter. The Blooming Grove barracks is in a wooded area, surrounded by state game lands.
Noonan said authorities did not have a description of the shooter or shooters but said they were following several leads.
“We can’t say that the situation is completely in hand,” he said.
Noonan said police did not believe the general public was at risk, but they are asking everyone to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
“People in the area can come and go freely but should be alert,” he said.
Several roads around the barracks, including parts of Interstate 84, were closed Saturday morning. Blooming Grove is a township of about 4,000 people about 35 miles east of Scranton.
Trooper Adam Reed, a state police spokesman, said the Blooming Grove barracks covers most of Pike County, which runs along the Delaware River and borders New Jersey and New York.
“There’s a lot of rural area up where they patrol,” he said. “As the primary police force in the county, they’re going to respond to anything and everything.”
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Sovereign citizen?
alright i know i shouldnt jump to conclusions but i wonder if it will be some kind of anti government right wing associated event… i wonder if it does turn out to be that , what else will it take to make people understand the violence these groups are capable of the further off the deep end they go… you really dont think there buying up all these guns and ammo for hunting do ya?
Rural Pennsyltucky? You’re probably right…
Do you have to ask?
Whenever these things happen, I’m always so surprised that THIS is the hill these guys have chosen to die on. Your best case scenario is you kill a couple of cops and then you’re dead, and the world moves on without you, and you had zero impact on the ideals you claimed to believe in.
They’re obviously going to catch the culprits here, so what on earth were they thinking?