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Suspect in three fatal Pennsylvania shootings takes hostages in New Jersey home

Police say suspect knew victims and carjacked a stranger’s vehicle as he attempted to escape before barricading himself in a home

Police evacuate a person (bottom right) from a home in Trenton, New Jersey, after reports of a gunman suspected of shootings in Pennsylvania being barricaded inside the house. Photograph: Joe Lamberti/AFP/Getty

Sat Mar 16 2024 - 20:29

Residents of a Philadelphia-area suburb were ordered to shelter in their homes temporarily after a series of connected fatal shootings on Saturday morning prompted a manhunt and hostage situation.

At about 8.50am local time, Falls township police were called to a home at Viewpoint Lane in Levittown, where two people had been shot dead. Minutes later, a further shooting was reported at Edgewood Lane, where a third person was killed.

Following the shootings, police issued a shelter-in-place order for Falls township in Bucks county, where some of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest towns are located. The order was lifted shortly before 1pm, at which time police had cornered a suspect for the killings at a home in nearby Trenton, New Jersey.

Police identified the suspect as 26-year old Andre Gordon. They said Gordon – who is described as unhoused – knew the victims but then carjacked a stranger’s vehicle as he attempted to escape authorities, before barricading himself in a home and taking hostages.

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Speaking to reporters in an afternoon press briefing, Falls township police did not provide any details about how many hostages were in the home where Gordon barricaded himself. They said they believed he had a rifle styled after an AR-15.

Such rifles have routinely been used in mass shootings across the country, prompting calls in some quarters for the weapons to be banned.

Nonetheless, the violence in Pennsylvania fell just short of the colloquial definition of a mass shooting, which the Gun Violence Archive – a nonpartisan resource – classifies as a case involving at least four victims who are slain or wounded.

From 2015 to 2022, mass shootings involving an assault-style rifle left six times as many people who had been shot and twice as many people killed as shootings involving other guns, illustrating how devastatingly efficient the weapons are at killing or maiming victims, according to research group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Since January, Pennsylvania’s state legislators have introduced multiple Bills proposing restrictions on firearms. Those measures including a proposal to ban rifles such as the AR-15.

In a post on X, Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, said he had been briefed on the shootings in Falls township. He added that he had “directed [Pennsylvania state police] to co-ordinate with our law enforcement partners and provide whatever support is needed on the ground”.

The home in Trenton where Gordon was believed to be barricaded was surrounded by a specialised tactical team as of 1pm local time, police said. – Guardian service

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