Police: Suspect barricaded himself in a home after killing 3 people in suburban Philadelphia
Police said it wasn’t known yet if the shootings were “targeted or random.”
LEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A suspect has barricaded himself in a home in New Jersey after allegedly killing three people in a shooting in suburban Philadelphia on Saturday, authorities said.
The morning shooting in Falls Township in eastern Pennsylvania forced the cancellation of a St. Patrick’s Day parade and shut down Sesame Place, a children’s theme park. Authorities in Bucks County issued a shelter-in-place order for the area for several hours, but it was canceled by early afternoon.
Police said the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Andre Gordon, was currently homeless and knew the victims.
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a press conference that Gordon, driving a vehicle carjacked earlier in Trenton, broke into a home in Levittown and killed his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and a 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon.
Three other people in the home "were able to hide and avoid being shot by Gordon as he went through the house searching for them,” Schorn said.
Gordon then drove to another home in Levittown and shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, the mother of his two children. Schorn said four other people, including the two children, were there, and the victim's mother was bludgeoned with a rifle.
After that, Schorn said, Gordon carjacked a second vehicle in the parking lot of a Dollar Store in Morristown, Pennsylvania from a 44-year-old man who wasn't harmed, and drove to the home in Trenton, where he barricaded himself.
The Trenton Police Department said the residents were successfully evacuated from the home with no injuries. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was assisting the department, as were the New Jersey State Police, the Mercer County Rapid Response Team and Mercer County Homicide Task Force. The FBI was on standby.
Video from a WPVI helicopter showed numerous police vehicles surrounding several blocks of homes in Trenton, where the suspect is believed to be barricaded. An officer roped off an area with crime tape, while others took cover behind vehicles. Another officer was stationed behind a wooden fence in the back of one of the multilevel homes.
Middletown Township police said the suspect has ties to addresses in Bucks and Trenton and “stays in Trenton primarily.”
Shaun Murphy, who lives in the Falls Township community of Levittown, said he was headed to the parade when he saw that the road had been blocked.
“All the neighbors were outside wondering what was going on and then we got the notice about shelter in place,” Murphy said.
“I did see ambulances coming up the street earlier without their sirens on,” Murphy said. “My neighbors were just outside with me last night, and we were just saying how great of a town and how great of a neighborhood it is.”
The Oxford Valley Mall reopened after being shut for several hours, Middletown Township police said. Other businesses would make individual decisions as to whether to operate.
This is a developing story.