DELAWARE TOWNSHIP, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Gunfire in Northumberland County sent two people to the hospital on Wednesday, one of them is a Pennsylvania state trooper and the other is the alleged shooter.
“I was upstairs making the bed and I heard some shots and then I heard some commands and then I heard rapid fire after that, and I looked out of my window and I saw there was a man down in the field right out here,” said Delaware Township resident John Gummo.
Gummo tells Eyewitness News he heard shots ring out around 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning near his home in Delaware Township.
It happened in a farm field where a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper was shot in the leg and is now recovering at home.
State troopers say a male suspect, 19-year-old Hunter Shaheen of Watsontown, was also shot. He is in stable condition, according to state police.
Both were taken to the hospital.
“The first thing I thought of was getting a gun actually and to see what was going on because the fire I heard was rapid fire it was not like a single shot it was several shots eight, nine, maybe ten shots between the two guns,” Gummo told Eyewitness News.
Investigators said the incident began roughly two miles away in Watsontown, Union County, just before 7:00 a.m.
Troopers say they were assisting Watsontown Borough Police for a domestic disturbance call on East 4th Street where they talked to two female victims.
According to police, one said Shaheen assaulted her and the other told police Shaheen threatened her with a gun.
Shaheen fled the residence before police arrived according to PSP.
“It’s terrible, it’s terrible,” said Leroy Mitch of Delaware Township.
People in the borough are trying to piece together what happened.
“I turned the computer on, and it said uh about the trooper being shot and it started in town here,” said Mitch.
Jeanie Kilgus works at the Dollar General on East 4th Street. She tells Eyewitness News she heard sirens and got nervous when she heard where the shooting took place.
“It happened probably a good maybe half a mile, 500 foot from the high school and middle school and the elementary school cause all our schools are in one area now. That makes a parent scared not knowing what’s going to go on sorry,” said Watstown resident Jeanie Kilgus.
State police say the injured trooper was shot in the leg and discharged from the hospital. The trooper’s name has not been released yet.
The suspect, Hunter Shaheen, remains in the hospital in stable condition and faces multiple charges including the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, and other related charges.
