(Update) Suspect Identified in Trooper Ambush
A Pennsylvania State Trooper walks into a wooded area as investigators return to scour the woods across the street from the state police barracks on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014, in Blooming Grove Township, Pa. On Friday night, State Trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, of Dunmore, Pa.,was killed and Trooper Alex T. Douglass, 31, of Olyphant, Pa., was wounded after a shooting ambush at the barracks. No arrests have been made yet. (AP Photo/The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys)
[Update 12:36 pm] AP reports that a suspect has been identified in the attack:
A law enforcement official says Pennsylvania State Police have identified a suspect in the killing of a trooper and the critical wounding of another outside a barracks.
The official says an arrest warrant will be issued soon. State police are looking for the suspect.
No other details were available.
[Original] Investigators haven’t identified a suspect in the weekend ambush that killed one Pennsylvania state trooper and wounded another, but they have released a psychological profile they say should fit the gunman.
The killer had a grudge against the Pennsylvania State Police. He regularly visited a local shooting range to keep his skills sharp. He made several trips to a state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania, picking just the right hiding spot from which he could launch an ambush and make his escape.
This chilling profile, developed by state police hunting for the gunman who opened fire on two of their own outside the Blooming Grove barracks late Friday, was released to the public Monday in hopes it might help authorities catch him.
An unknown assailant, using a .308-caliber rifle, killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, and critically wounded another trooper at the remote outpost surrounded by dense forest, then slipped away. The motive is unknown, but police said Monday it’s likely he had a grievance against the state police and wasn’t shy about talking about it, either with people who knew him or on social media.
Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II was killed in the incident; his funeral is planned for Thursday morning. Trooper Alex T. Douglass remains hospitalized with injuries.
State officials are vowing to bring the killer to justice. Reuters reports:
After touring the barracks on Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett spoke to reporters at a nearby church, saying he would be meeting with the Dickson and Douglass families and urging media to respect their privacy.
“This is an assault that was not only on the individual troopers, it was an assault on state police, it was an assault on law enforcement,” Corbett said.
“It was an assault on society – somebody who lies in ambush and assassinates one trooper and severely wounds another trooper,” the governor said.
