One dead after pursuit leads to standoff in Hazleton
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - State Troopers in tactical gear peek around a corner at a tractor trailer involved in a pursuit, stopped at the Beech Street Playground in Hazleton on June 29, 2020.
HAZLETON, Luzerne County – One person is dead after a pursuit from our area led to a standoff and gunfire in this city in neighboring Luzerne County Monday afternoon.
Trooper Anthony Petroski, Community Services Officer with State Police Troop N – Hazleton, said that the pursuit began in the area covered by State Police at Frackville.
The pursuit, involving a white tractor trailer, entered Interstate 81 at Frackville, making it’s way through the McAdoo area into and around the southern portion of Hazleton before concluding behind the ice rink at Beech Street Park.
Witnesses said a Honda SUV at the corner of Beech and Church was struck by the truck.
The surrounding neighborhood was placed under a shelter-in-place order immediately after the pursuit concluded, and a helicopter was called in as police feared the driver had fled on foot.
“We had an armed individual inside the cab of a tractor trailer, just the cab,” Petroski said around 9:30pm, noting the active police incident had concluded. “The actor inside the cab is now deceased.”
Petroski said the investigation is ongoing, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and Troop N Major Case team are assisting, and more information will be released soon.
The actor was not identified.
Members of the Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team, essentially a SWAT team, were deployed for the five hour standoff, using tactical equipment such as drones, a Bearcat vehicle and an armored dozer.
In addition to State Police, U.S. Marshals and police officers from Hazleton, West Hazleton, Butler Township, and Weatherly were all at the scene, along with members of the Hazleton Fire Department.
Throughout the incident, troopers pushed media members farther and farther back towards Church Street, citing safety as gunfire was exchanged and reportedly ricocheting up Beech Street.
Bystanders, neighbors react
Bob Shafer has lived on West Birch Street, a few blocks from the scene, for the past two decades, and was out for a motorcycle ride when he found out about the pursuit.
“I stopped at an establishment, and I heard more about it, and then it’s right by my house, so I was wondering, ‘Can I get home?'” Shafer said.
Shafer expressed concerns with gunfire at the scene, regarding the safety of neighbors, and hoped for a more expedited conclusion as a result.
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