‘Harrowing’: Pennsylvania state police recount gunfight with ambush suspect that left trooper dead

In his just about 40 years as a member of the Pennsylvania State Police, Lt. Col. George Bivens mentioned he is by no means witnessed a gunfight extra intense than the only that erupted over the weekend with a suspect purported to have ambushed and killed one trooper and significantly wounded every other.

“What I witnessed …. was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed,” Bivens mentioned at a news convention on Sunday.

The suspect, 38-year-old Brandon Stine, was once fatally shot by means of police within the gunbattle on Saturday during which Bivens mentioned “hundreds of rounds” had been fired.

State Police Commissioner Christopher L. Paris mentioned Stine was once armed with a high-powered .458 magnum rifle, which he mentioned is generally utilized by huge sport hunters.

“This was as harrowing as it gets,” Paris mentioned of the gunfight that ended with Stine’s dying.

Bivens mentioned the rifle Stine allegedly used “would defeat any body armor” the officials he faced had been dressed in.

A cause for the rampage stays below investigation, and government declined to touch upon whether or not state police had earlier touch with Stine, who’s from Thompsontown, Pennsylvania, in Juniata County.

Bivens described the preliminary assaults at the soldiers as an “ambush” and mentioned the suspect known as 911 a number of occasions to offer his location in an obvious effort to trap officials right into a entice.

The violence spread out about 11 a.m. Saturday when Stine drove his 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck into the automobile parking space of the state police Troop G barracks in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, were given out of his car and fired a number of pictures at parked patrol automobiles prior to using off. Surveillance cameras captured Stine firing his weapon within the automobile parking space and enabled police to acquire his registration number plate quantity and determine him because the registered proprietor and most likely assailant, Paris mentioned.

The state police in an instant introduced a large seek for the suspect, who was once noticed at 12:45 p.m. Saturday in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, about 13 miles northwest of Lewistown, by means of state police Lt. James Wagner, Paris mentioned. Wagner was once significantly wounded in a disagreement with the suspect, Paris mentioned.

He mentioned a number of civilians got here to the 45-year-old Wagner’s assist and used his radio to name for lend a hand.

Around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Trooper Jacques F. Rougeau Jr., 29, a member of the state police power since 2020, was once fatally shot in his patrol car as he participated within the seek for Stine.

Bivens alleged that Rougeau was once “ambushed” by means of Stine because the trooper was once using in Walker Township.

He mentioned Rougeau was once fatally shot from a distance during the windshield of the patrol car. He mentioned Stine then drove right into a residential space and was once sooner or later noticed once more by means of officials within the automobile parking space of a shop and eating place.

“There were people in the lot that were patronizing that business,” mentioned Bivens, who was once in a police helicopter overhead directing the pursuit.

Bivens mentioned the soldiers put themselves between the suspect and the civilians and used their patrol car to power the suspect clear of the companies. He mentioned a number of soldiers had been shot at by means of the suspect.

“It was such a fluid situation that our patrol car members were literally bailing out of cars while they were running,” Bivens mentioned.

In an obvious try to get away, Stine drove around the backyard and lawn of a house and were given caught in opposition to a row of timber, Bivens mentioned. He was once fatally shot throughout a last gunbattle with police, Bivens mentioned.

Paris added, “It’s a miracle that no members of the public were killed or injured as a result.”