Thread: Two people killed and three wounded in a shooting at a town meeting

Two people killed and three wounded in a shooting at a town meeting in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, a police official says.

Gunfire kills 2, wounds 4 at Pennsylvania town hall

By CNN Staff
updated 8:45 PM EDT, Mon August 5, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Six shot, two fatally, in Pennsylvania township
• A suspected gunman is in custody, county official says
• A commissioner calls the location "the quietest township in Monroe County"

(CNN) -- Two people were killed and four were wounded in a shooting at a town supervisor's meeting in eastern Pennsylvania, a county official reported Monday.

The shooting broke out shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET at the Ross Township building in Saylorsburg, about 75 miles north of Philadelphia, Monroe County Emergency Management Director Guy Miller told CNN. A suspected gunman was in custody, and the wounded were being taken to various hospitals nearby, he said.

Ross Township's three-member Board of Supervisors meets the first Monday night of the month at the township's municipal building. Monroe County Commissioner Suzanne McCool said it was "the quietest township in Monroe County."

"They are never in the newspaper," McCool said. She said she knew of no controversial issues before the supervisors.

"They are the only township in Monroe County that hasn't had a tax increase in many, many years," she said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/05/us/pennsylvania-town-hall-shooting/index.html

2 Shot Dead at Pa. Town Meeting; Shooter Tackled



SAYLORSBURG, Pa. August 6, 2013 (AP)

A shooting during a meeting at a municipal building on Monday left two people dead, and the gunman was tackled by a local official and shot with his own gun before being taken into custody, a witness said.

The shooting, which also injured three people, happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. during Ross Township's regular monthly meeting, Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller said. The gunman, who appeared to be "shooting randomly," was in state police custody at a local hospital, which was placed on lockdown, he said.

State police in Lehighton confirmed the gunman had been captured but didn't immediately have details on the arrest.

The Pocono Record said one of its reporters was in the township building and a gunman armed with a pistol with a scope shot through a wall into the meeting, in northeastern Pennsylvania about 85 miles north of Philadelphia.



The reporter, Chris Reber, told the newspaper that all he saw was holes go through the wall, with smoke and plaster blowing out. He said he heard automatic gunfire.

"I ran out after the first round of shooting. I dropped to the floor. That's what everyone did. ... Then it stopped and I crawled out the side door," Reber recounted to the newspaper, which posted it online. "I was the only person who crawled out. Everyone got behind a table. Some of the supervisors were over on the side throwing up."

Reber said a woman opened a door to the meeting room "and he (the shooter) was standing there. A man pushed her aside and was shot. People were shot inside the room."

The shooter returned to his car and came back inside with another weapon when a local official at the meeting grabbed him, Reber said.

"(West End Open Space Commission executive director) Bernie Kozen was there tending to the man and he (the shooter) didn't see them," Reber said. "Bernie bearhugged him and took him down. He shot (the shooter) with his own gun."

According to Ross Township's website, the board of supervisors meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/people-shot-dead-pa-municipal-building-19877595

3 people shot dead at Pa. municipal building meeting; witness says official ...
Washington Post - 3 minutes ago

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...1e2-8294-0ee50
75b840d_story.html

Four dead, several wounded in Pennsylvania town hall shooting

From Kevin Conlon and Joe Sutton, CNN
updated 11:16 PM EDT, Mon August 5, 2013

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/05/us/pennsylvania-town-hall-shooting/index.html?eref=googletoolbar

Town Meeting Shooting: Property Dispute Led to Fatal Rampage, Cops Say


Emergency crews respond to a reported shooting at the Ross Township building that left several people dead, Monday, Aug. 5, 2013 in Saylorsburg, Pa. Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller says the shooting happened Monday evening during Ross Township's regular monthly meeting, that the gunman was captured and was in state police custody. (AP Photo/Chris Post) (AP)

By DEAN SCHABNER and KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak)
Aug. 5, 2013

A gunman with a property dispute showed up at a Ross Township, Pa., supervisors' meeting and opened fire tonight, shooting apparently at random before he was subdued by two attendees, a witness and Monroe County officials said.

Three people were killed in the shooting rampage, and three others were wounded, including the shooter, county officials said. The suspect, who was under arrest tonight, was wounded when he was tackled by one of the township officials at the meeting.

Pennsylvania State Police identified the alleged shooter as Rockne Newell, 59, who they said had long-running property dispute with the town.

His property was condemned Thursday, and he hasn't been in his home since, according to police. He came to the meeting in a car with Texas license plates, police said.

After entering the building, Newell fired a long gun as he made his way through the building. He then retrieved a handgun from vehicle, reentered the building and started firing the handgun before being subdued.

One of the two people who subdued Newell was a member of the parks program, and the other was a member of the public, police said. Neither has been named by police.

"They were certainly courageous -- they saved lives," State Police Capt. Edward Hoke said at a press conference tonight.

The shooting occurred at 7:23 p.m., at the Ross Township Building, Monroe County sheriff spokesman Jeff Strunk said.

According to a local newspaper reporter covering the meeting, the first shots came through the wall of the room where the meeting was being held, and then Newell came in and continued firing.

When Newell came back with the handgun one of the officials at the meeting was able to catch him by surprise and subdue him, Chris Reber, a Pocono Record reporter who was there to cover the meeting, said in an account published by the paper.

The gunman apparently didn't notice West End Open Space Commission Executive Director Bernie Kozen, who was taking care of one of the victims, Reber said.

"Bernie Kozen was there tending to the man and [Newell] didn't see them," Reber said, according to the Record. "Bernie bear-hugged him and took him down. He shot [the shooter] with his own gun."

Two of the people killed were declared dead on the scene. A third died after being taken to a nearby hospital. A fourth person was grazed by a bullet but not seriously wounded.

One victim is currently in surgery, police said.

The sixth person wounded in the incident was Newell, who was apparently shot in leg. He was later released from the hospital into police custody.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/town-meeting-shooting-dead-wounded-gunman-custody/story?id=19877592

Victims identified in Pennsylvania shooting

A suspect is in custody after three people were shot dead at a township meeting in Eastern Pennsylvania. Police say the suspect, 59-year-old Rockne Newell, had a long-running dispute with the town over the possible condemnation of his property. (Aug. 6)

Tribune staff and wire reports11:11 a.m. CDT, August 6, 2013

Three people were killed and three others wounded Monday night during a shooting rampage by an allegedly disgruntled resident at a public meeting in a government building in rural Pennsylvania, police said.

Monroe County officials this morning identified two of the victims in the deadly shooting at the Ross Township municipal building.

James V. LaGuardia, 64, and Gerard Kozic, 53, both of Saylorsburg, were found dead at the scene of the shooting around 7:20 p.m.

• Related
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• Photos: Pennsylvania shooting
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• VIDEO: Fatal Shooting at Municipal Building

A third victim, Chestnuthill Township Supervisor David Fleetwood, died at a nearby hospital after being flown there with a serious gunshot wound, a source said.

Two other people suffered gunshot wounds when Rockne Newell, 59, opened fire on the crowded meeting room. One, who was seriously injured, was flown to a local hospital. Another suffered what police described as a graze wound to the head.

Newell, who was shot when a bystander turned his gun against him, was treated at Pocono Medical Center, police said. Newell is in police custody.

The monthly meeting of the board of supervisors of Ross Township in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania, about 90 miles north of Philadelphia. is usually a sleepy affair -- minutes from June's meeting include a recital of the U.S. pledge of allegiance and discussion of the location of a driveway in a subdivision.

But not long after an estimated 15 to 18 council officials and residents sat down to talk township business, a gunman open fire with a "long gun" and was reportedly wrestled to the ground when he returned to the scene with a handgun, police said.
"No one wanted to move," Secretary Treasurer Doris Price was quoted as saying by the local newspaper, the Pocono Record. "Everyone was hiding."

State police said they believed Newell was operating alone and that he had been in a dispute with the local council over issues related to a sewer on his property.

According to reports in The Morning Call, Newell had been engaged in a lengthy dispute with the township over permitting and sanitation on his property. The Pocono Record newspaper, which said one of its reporters had witnessed the shooting, said the shots were fired through a wall and into the meeting.

"I saw smoke and plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls," reporter Chris Reber wrote in a firsthand account of the shooting. The noise was "like a string of firecrackers."

Reber wrote that he dropped to the floor when the shooting began, and crawled out a side door.

"Everyone got behind a table," Reber wrote. "Some of the supervisors were over on the side throwing up."

At one point, he wrote, a woman ran to the door and opened it, only to see the gunman standing there.

"A man pushed her aside and was shot," Reber wrote.

State police Captain Edward Hoke said Tuesday at a briefing at the Monroe County 911 Center in Hamilton Township that Newell was subdued by a member of the public and the township official, who reportedly shot Newell.

"It was certainly courageous what they did," Hoke said. "They absolutely would have saved lives. He was entering the building again with a handgun and his intent had been shown to do harm to people, and certainly if they would not have done that he would have injured other people."

Hoke said police were working to obtain a search warrant to obtain evidence from Newell's former home.

Hoke said Newell has been removed from his home Thursday because of issues related to the lack of sewer service on the property. There was nothing on the agenda of the supervisors meeting related to his property.

Hoke noted that Newell had arrived at the meeting in a car with Texas license plates. Police were also working to obtain a warrant to search the car and obtain the rifle allegedly used in the shooting.

The handgun that Newell allegedly used was recovered from the scene by police.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-pennsylvania-shooting-20130805,0,7842599.story