By Mike Catalini and Ron Todt – Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A man killed three people in their Philadelphia-area homes Saturday and was later arrested in New Jersey’s capital city following a major police response and hourslong standoff, authorities said.

Steve Wilson, police director for the city of Trenton, said the man was found near a house were he was believed to have barricaded himself and was taken into custody. He apparently escaped the perimeter around the home before it was set up, according to Wilson.

Wilson added that he did not believe the suspect was armed at the time. No one else was injured.

A resident is evacuated from a home in Trenton, N.J. on Saturday, March 16, 2024. A suspect has barricaded himself in the home after allegedly shooting three people to death in suburban Philadelphia on Saturday, authorities said. The Trenton Police Department said the suspect is believed to be hiding in the house and that the residents were successfully evacuated with no injuries. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The suspect was identified earlier as 26-year-old Andre Gordon Jr. Authorities said he killed his stepmother, his teenage sister and the mother of his children in shootings that stretched into two homes in eastern Pennsylvania’s Falls Township in the morning, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said.

Officials said they couldn’t yet speak to a motive for the attacks. While Gordon had had some minor brushes with the law, they were “nothing that would indicate that anything like this would happen,” Falls Township Police Chief Nelson Whitney said at a news conference.

Police said Gordon was believed to be homeless. It was unclear whether he had an attorney or anyone else who could comment on his behalf.

The mayhem forced the cancellation of a St. Patrick’s Day parade and shut down a Sesame Street-themed amusement park. Authorities in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County issued a shelter-in-place order for some areas for several hours.

After fleeing in a stolen car, then taking another in a carjacking in a store parking lot, Gordon went to the home in nearby Trenton, authorities said. By midafternoon, officers surrounded the house on a taped-off block, calling to Gordon through a loudspeaker and trying to persuade him to come out.

“Andre, get away from the windows. If you would like to surrender, dial 911 now,” one message went.

Neighbors gathered by the barricade to watch what was happening. The home’s residents had been taken to safety with no injuries, the Trenton Police Department said.

Schorn said Gordon first broke into a home in the Falls Township community of Levittown and killed his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and his 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon. Three other occupants, including a 14-year-old, hid as the suspect went through the house, searching for them, the district attorney said.

She said Gordon then drove to another home in Levittown and shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, the mother of his two children, who were there. The victim’s mother was bludgeoned with a rifle, Schorn said. Police said the injured woman is expected to recover.

Shaun Murphy, who lives in Levittown, said he was headed to the local St. Patrick’s Day 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, recalling that he and his neighbors had just been talking the night before about “how great of a town and how great of a neighborhood it is.”

Schorn said that after the shootings, Gordon carjacked a vehicle in a parking lot in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, from a 44-year-old man who wasn’t harmed. From there, officials said, Gordon drove to the home in Trenton.
Police in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, said the suspect has ties to addresses in Bucks County and Trenton and “stays in Trenton primarily.”

UPDATED STORY:

03/16/2024

Police: Suspect is barricaded in New Jersey home after killing 3 people in Philadelphia suburb

By Michael Catalini and Ron Ttodt – undefined

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.

Police respond to a neighborhood after a shooting in Levittown, Pa., Saturday, March 16, 2024. Authorities have issued a shelter-in-place order following the shooting of multiple people in a suburban Philadelphia township. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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.

ORIGINAL STORY:

03/16/2024

Authorities order residents to shelter in place after shootings in suburban Philadelphia township

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have issued a shelter-in-place order following the shooting of multiple people in a suburban Philadelphia township.

Middletown Township police said Saturday morning that there were “confirmed shootings” in neighboring Falls Township that resulted in “several gunshot victims.”

Police said it wasn’t known yet if the shootings were “targeted or random.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican who represents Bucks County, said in social media posts that there had been “a carjacking and a shooting in two sections of Falls Township.”
He said he was “in touch with law enforcement officials as they pursue the suspect.”

Bucks County issued a shelter-in-place order around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said Oxford Valley Mall and Sesame Place had been told to close until further notice. The area’s Target store and other businesses had chosen to close as well.

The county’s scheduled St. Patrick’s Day parade was canceled following the shelter-in-place order.as well. The county’s scheduled St. Patrick’s Day parade was canceled.

Further details about the shootings and suspect or suspects weren’t immediately released.

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