Three people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting rampage at a local council meeting in Ross Township Pennsylvania. Police arrested the suspected gunman soon afterwards.
Police captain Edward Hoke said at a press conference that the police had arrested Rockne Newell, 59, in connection with the incident. He added that the suspect may have been shot in the leg before his arrest.
Newell had been in dispute with the council over issues connected with a sewer on his property; they believe that he acted alone in the shooting.
It is thought that Newell arrived at the building where the meeting was taking place at around 7:15 p.m. local time. He then opened fire through a window with a “long gun” according to the police. It is alleged that he then entered the building and walked around firing many times.
He then went to a car to get a hand gun; upon re-entering the building he was caught and held by two bystanders; there were some 15 people in attendance at the meeting.
A reporter from the Pocono Record newspaper saw the shooting “I saw smoke and plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls,” Chris Reber wrote in a firsthand account of the shooting. He said that the noise was “like a string of firecrackers.”
When the shooting began, Reber dropped to the floor and crawled out a side door “Everyone got behind a table,” he wrote. “Some of the supervisors were over on the side throwing up.”
A woman ran to the door and opened it, only to find the gunman standing in front of her. “A man pushed her aside and was shot,” Reber wrote.
Ross Township is situated about 90 miles north of Philadelphia. State police said they would provide more information regarding this Pennsylvania shooting incident on Tuesday.
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