A “very dangerous” suspect was detained in New Jersey on Saturday after allegedly fatally shooting three family members, authorities said, following hours of efforts to arrest him.
“Andre Gordon, 26, surrendered peacefully,” Trenton Police Department spokeswoman Lisette Rios told AFP, after a spate of violence prompted restraining orders in two states.
Authorities said Gordon, who was believed to be homeless, started the day by burglarizing a vehicle in Trenton before driving about 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the northern Philadelphia suburb of Levittown.
There, police said, the suspect killed two people, identified as his 52-year-old stepmother and 13-year-old sister.
“Three other people in the home, including a minor, managed to hide while he searched the home for them,” Bucks County, Pennsylvania district attorney Jennifer Schorn said in a briefing.
The suspect then went to a nearby residence where he entered before shooting and killing a 25-year-old woman — who Schorn said was the mother of his two children — before hitting the mother with the butt of a rifle. He is expected to recover.
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Going to a nearby discount store, the suspect robbed a Honda from a 44-year-old man before fleeing. The man was not injured, according to Sheriff Nelson Whitney of Falls Township, Pennsylvania.
The suspect then crossed the state line back into Trenton, where police believe he barricaded himself in a three-story house.
Whitney said the suspect was allegedly armed with an AR-15 style assault rifle and police described him as “extremely dangerous.”
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For several hours they asked him to surrender.
“Andre, move away from the window. We know you’re in there, if you want to surrender, dial 911 now,” police said over the loudspeaker. “You’re still young, you have a lot to live up to.”
“Later on Saturday Gordon was found at another location in Trenton,” Rios said.
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Trenton Police Director Steve Wilson said Gordon was uninjured and walking down the street when a patrol officer approached him. It’s unclear if he was ever in the home where police believe he barricaded himself.
People in the home were “evacuated successfully without injury,” Rios said.
Armed SWAT officers were seen using ladders to climb onto the terrace roof to help people inside escape through windows.
Because the suspect crossed state lines, federal authorities — including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — worked on the case, along with local, county and state police. (AFP/Z-3)
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