DA: Six dead in Montco shootings

For Martist.

Philly.com

Authorities are searching for the gunman who left six people dead in three Montgomery County shootings this morning.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said police are looking for 35-year-old Bradley William Stone, of Pennsburg, in the killings. Three others were seriously wounded, officials said.

All of the victims have a “familial relationship” to Stone, prosecutors said. The victims were not identified further.  

The hunt for Stone has moved to Pennsburg after a siege in Souderton ended without taking a suspect into custody.

Prosecutors said police were search locations in and around the town where Stone may be located. Loud noises were heard from near a house on Main Street as police called to the suspect, “You’re under arrest” and “come out with your hands up.”

SWAT teams descended on Pennsburg after police responded to shootings in Lansdale, Lower Salford Township and Souderton beginning before 4:30 a.m. The search for the shooter ultimately led to a standoff in on Souderton’s West Penn Street, which ended shortly before noon after what sounded like a concussion grenade went off and an unidentified male, evidently seriously wounded, was removed from the home and taken by ambulance to a waiting medical helicopter.

Towamencin Township Police Chief Tim Dickinson said the person was not the suspected gunman and the SWAT teams had moved out to another location in Pennsburg.

Meanwhile, officials have lifted a “shelter in place” order on all schools in the Souderton Area School District that was prompted by the shootings and the Pennridge School District was lifting its “modified lock down” as students prepared for dismissal.

Officers were called to the 100 block of West 5th Street in Lansdale for reports of gunfire around 4:25 a.m., according to dispatchers.

Officers were also called to a shooting reported at the Pheasant Run Apartments on the 100 block of Main Street in Lower Salford Township shortly before 5 a.m., dispatchers said.

Then, around 7:40 a.m., police responded to a reported shooting on Penn Avenue in Souderton.

Judy Alderfer, a restaurant manager who lives on Penn Street in Souderton, said the whole incident was frightening.

“These are people we know who are involved in this,” she said. “It’s scary to think that someone I talk to every day could be involved in this.”

Audrey Gallina, another resident of the block, said that when she encountered a police officer on street, he told her: “’There’s a man with a gun, he’s very dangerous. Go inside.

“This a tragedy, this is a nice quiet town,” she said, describing the couple who live in the besieged house as “very nice.”

Souderton schools were in “shelter in place” mode for about two hours.

In the Pennridge School District, schools were under modified lock down,” meaning only people known to staff are allowed to enter the buildings and students aren’t participating in outdoor activities, the school district said. The lockdown was being lifted for dismissal, but after-school activities will be canceled today.

Authorities said Stone should be considered armed and dangerous and anyone with information about his whereabouts should call 911.

He was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 195 pounds and having a red or auburn beard and mustache, and closely cropped hair. He is known to use a cane or walker, and may be wearing military fatigues.
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