Blooming Grove, PA – Police: Gunman Hid In Lair Outside Barracks To Kill Pennsylvania Trooper

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    A Pennsylvania State Trooper photographs the scene at the state police barracks on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014, in Blooming Grove Township, Pa. On Friday night, State Trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, of Dunmore, Pa. was killed and Trooper Alex T. Douglass, 32, of Olyphant, Pa. was wounded after a shooting ambush at the barracks. No arrests have been yet.  (AP photo / The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys)Bloomong Grove, PA – The gunman who ambushed two Pennsylvania state troopers, killing one, hid with a rifle in a wooded lair overlooking their law enforcement barracks and opened fire during a late night shift change, police said on Monday.

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    The killer, who used a .308-caliber rifle, was believed to be an avid hunter, ex-military or law enforcement officer and had “an ongoing issue with the state police,” Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Bivens told a news conference.

    “It was an act of cowardice, an act of murder,” Bivens said.

    Police have no suspects and have not recovered a weapon, he said.

    Shots were fired for several minutes late on Friday “from a well-concealed spot in thick woods surrounding” the Blooming Grove law enforcement barracks about 100 miles (161 km) north of Philadelphia, killing Corporal Bryon Dickson, 38, and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass, 31, he said.

    Douglass was arriving to start his shift as Dickson ended his workday.

    On Monday, Douglass was recovering after surgery and was speaking with investigators, police said.
    This photo provided by the Pennsylvania  State Police shows Cpl. Byron Dickson. Dickson was killed by a gunman as he left the police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pa. State police spokesman Trooper Tom Kelly said investigators hope to soon interview Trooper Alex Douglass, who was injured in the attack, to get additional information on the ambush. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania  State Police)
    The shooting initially touched off a massive manhunt across Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey and now other states are involved, said Bivens, who declined to elaborate.

    The camouflaged hiding place was found in woods that surround the barracks but are set back at least 100 yards from the sand-colored, single-story building.

    Yellow tape blocked off the barracks’ parking lot, treated as a crime scene, and roughly 50 unmarked police cars lined the rural road leading to the site.

    Blooming Grove is a township of roughly 5,000 people in the heart of the Pocono Mountains near the New York border.

    After touring the barracks on Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett spoke to reporters at a nearby church, saying he would be meeting with the Dickson and Douglass families and urging media to respect their privacy.

    “This is an assault that was not only on the individual troopers, it was an assault on state police, it was an assault on law enforcement,” Corbett said.

    “It was an assault on society – somebody who lies in ambush and assassinates one trooper and severely wounds another trooper,” the governor said.


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    3 Comments
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    OscarMadison
    OscarMadison
    9 years ago

    I get the impression that this was a targeted killing.

    hashomer
    hashomer
    9 years ago

    Probably not terrorism, but the act of a redneck camo guy who hates state troopers. Hope he’s caught soon.

    Benny
    Benny
    9 years ago

    I feel bad for the family of the trooper.
    I am not surprised that someone got that upset, because sometimes they behave like chayos royos on the highway.
    Once we were pulled over for a little thing, the state trooper verbally attacked a 12 year old on the back seat for looking at him when he was approaching the car by almost ripping off the back door and verbally lashing at the minor, then drove off with our insurance card.
    We complained, nothing helped.