matt33
Member
The story below is still unfolding. It happened about one mile north of my place! I am at college right now (Sig-less!), but I will be heading home in about an hour. I would feel a little better right now if the university had a different policy regarding CCW. I hope this scumbag is caught by the time I leave here. Pray for the family's of the officers.
Local News for Wednesday 3/31/04
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Police seek man in killing of deputies
By G. JEFFREY AARON and SALLE E. RICHARDS
Star-Gazette
Updated 8:30 p.m. -- Two Bradford County sheriff's deputies were shot and killed Wednesday morning, and Wednesday night New York and Pennsylvania police were combing roads and woods near the state line searching for a man considered armed and dangerous.
The deputies were attempting to serve a bench warrant at a home on Congdon Road in Wells Township in northwestern Bradford County when the shooting occurred around 11:09 a.m., said Thomas R. Kelly, communications services officer at the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Wyoming.
The specific charge on the warrant was not stated at the briefing, but Kelly said it was a misdemeanor. The bodies of the two deputies were found on a driveway leading to the home, he said. A person in the home called 911 after the shooting.
Three members of the Briggs family were in the home when the deputies arrived to serve the warrant, Kelly said. Two family members were being questioned Wednesday by police; a third person, Dustin F. Briggs, is at large.
Briggs is described as white, 5-foot-9-inches, 240 lbs., with long hair. He has a stocky build and is 27 years old. He is thought to be on foot. Briggs has been arrested in the past on firearms and drug charges, Kelly said. He served two years in Watertown, N.Y., (1998-2000) for third-degree criminal possession of weapon.
Briggs is considered armed and dangerous and police are being advised to proceed with caution, according to police scanner reports. Briggs may have a deputy's weapon, Kelly said.
Helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, police dogs, and police from eight agencies in the Twin Tiers were in Wells and South Creek townships ... around Christian Hollow, Congdon, Bird Creek, Ferran and Wheeler roads ... stopping and searching cars and warnings motorists not to pick up hitchhikers.
The scene of the crime is just west of the South Creek-Wells township line in Bradford County on a rural secondary road. Police had blocked off both ends of Congdon Road.
Devon and Mary Brock, who live at the corner of Congdon and Roaring Run roads in South Creek Township, said they were in Sayre early Wednesday afternoon when their daughter, Tiffany Brock, 27, called to alert them to the manhunt in their neighborhood.
"She said we'd better come home," Mary Brock said. "I can't believe Dustin (Briggs) would do this."
She said Briggs lives with his parents at the property. Because Briggs has grown up in the area and has hunted his whole life, Devon Brock, 55, said he believes Briggs would stay close to home because he knows the woods so well.
Others who know Briggs say they are not surprised by his involvement in the incident. Lyle Voorhees, who lives on nearby Pony Hill Road, said he's known Briggs for about 20 years and said he was frequently in trouble with the law.
"He's an outlaw, but his parents are decent law-abiding people. His father spent his whole life savings trying to keep him out of trouble," Voorhees said.
The Briggs have a junkyard and several outbuildings on their property, Kelly said.
Tiffany Brock was anxiously awaiting the school bus carrying her daughter home from the elementary school in Mosherville on Wednesday afternoon.
"We're locking the doors tonight," Mary Brock said. "And our shotgun is loaded."
Sherri Packard, of Laurel Hill Road, said she heard the shots on Wednesday morning but thought someone nearby was target shooting.
"A lot of people hunt around here and they target shoot all the time," she said. Packard also said she didn't know Briggs personally but was aware of his reputation. "He's not someone I'd hang around with," she said.
Sherri Packard's husband, Bob, was returning home shortly after the shooting when his vehicle was passed by three or four unmarked police cars and about six marked cars, he said.
"I remember when we didn't have to lock our doors up here, but now we do. The people who did this have no respect for human life," Bob Packard said.
Roadblocks were set up around the region with police stopping every car and examining the inside. Many area schools were on lockdown, which meant parents had to provide photo identification to pick up their children. Evening activities, such as the annual March music concert at Edison High School, were canceled.
Wells Township is just south of Chemung County and officers from several New York departments ... Elmira Heights, Chemung County Sheriff, New York State Police, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ... were the first on the scene. Volunteer firefighters from Millerton and Big Elm, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with Pennsylvania State Police were also at the scene. Nearly 100 officers were involved in the investigation on Wednesday.
The police agencies set up a temporary command post near an auto repair garage owned by Thomas Mott, of Congdon Road, about one-half mile from the Briggs' residence. By late afternoon, a command post was set up at the Southport Fire Department. Media were referred to the South Creek Fire Department.
As night fell, 30 police cars responded to what turned out to be a false report of a man holding a gun on a police officer at the Ridgebury Fire Department.
The deputies' deaths follows Friday's shooting death of Philadelphia court officer Joseph E. LeClaire, 53, and the wounding of two other court officers as they tried to serve a bench warrant on a man in the city's Germantown section who failed to show for his trial on rape charges.
Local News for Wednesday 3/31/04
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police seek man in killing of deputies
By G. JEFFREY AARON and SALLE E. RICHARDS
Star-Gazette
Updated 8:30 p.m. -- Two Bradford County sheriff's deputies were shot and killed Wednesday morning, and Wednesday night New York and Pennsylvania police were combing roads and woods near the state line searching for a man considered armed and dangerous.
The deputies were attempting to serve a bench warrant at a home on Congdon Road in Wells Township in northwestern Bradford County when the shooting occurred around 11:09 a.m., said Thomas R. Kelly, communications services officer at the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Wyoming.
The specific charge on the warrant was not stated at the briefing, but Kelly said it was a misdemeanor. The bodies of the two deputies were found on a driveway leading to the home, he said. A person in the home called 911 after the shooting.
Three members of the Briggs family were in the home when the deputies arrived to serve the warrant, Kelly said. Two family members were being questioned Wednesday by police; a third person, Dustin F. Briggs, is at large.
Briggs is described as white, 5-foot-9-inches, 240 lbs., with long hair. He has a stocky build and is 27 years old. He is thought to be on foot. Briggs has been arrested in the past on firearms and drug charges, Kelly said. He served two years in Watertown, N.Y., (1998-2000) for third-degree criminal possession of weapon.
Briggs is considered armed and dangerous and police are being advised to proceed with caution, according to police scanner reports. Briggs may have a deputy's weapon, Kelly said.
Helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, police dogs, and police from eight agencies in the Twin Tiers were in Wells and South Creek townships ... around Christian Hollow, Congdon, Bird Creek, Ferran and Wheeler roads ... stopping and searching cars and warnings motorists not to pick up hitchhikers.
The scene of the crime is just west of the South Creek-Wells township line in Bradford County on a rural secondary road. Police had blocked off both ends of Congdon Road.
Devon and Mary Brock, who live at the corner of Congdon and Roaring Run roads in South Creek Township, said they were in Sayre early Wednesday afternoon when their daughter, Tiffany Brock, 27, called to alert them to the manhunt in their neighborhood.
"She said we'd better come home," Mary Brock said. "I can't believe Dustin (Briggs) would do this."
She said Briggs lives with his parents at the property. Because Briggs has grown up in the area and has hunted his whole life, Devon Brock, 55, said he believes Briggs would stay close to home because he knows the woods so well.
Others who know Briggs say they are not surprised by his involvement in the incident. Lyle Voorhees, who lives on nearby Pony Hill Road, said he's known Briggs for about 20 years and said he was frequently in trouble with the law.
"He's an outlaw, but his parents are decent law-abiding people. His father spent his whole life savings trying to keep him out of trouble," Voorhees said.
The Briggs have a junkyard and several outbuildings on their property, Kelly said.
Tiffany Brock was anxiously awaiting the school bus carrying her daughter home from the elementary school in Mosherville on Wednesday afternoon.
"We're locking the doors tonight," Mary Brock said. "And our shotgun is loaded."
Sherri Packard, of Laurel Hill Road, said she heard the shots on Wednesday morning but thought someone nearby was target shooting.
"A lot of people hunt around here and they target shoot all the time," she said. Packard also said she didn't know Briggs personally but was aware of his reputation. "He's not someone I'd hang around with," she said.
Sherri Packard's husband, Bob, was returning home shortly after the shooting when his vehicle was passed by three or four unmarked police cars and about six marked cars, he said.
"I remember when we didn't have to lock our doors up here, but now we do. The people who did this have no respect for human life," Bob Packard said.
Roadblocks were set up around the region with police stopping every car and examining the inside. Many area schools were on lockdown, which meant parents had to provide photo identification to pick up their children. Evening activities, such as the annual March music concert at Edison High School, were canceled.
Wells Township is just south of Chemung County and officers from several New York departments ... Elmira Heights, Chemung County Sheriff, New York State Police, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ... were the first on the scene. Volunteer firefighters from Millerton and Big Elm, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with Pennsylvania State Police were also at the scene. Nearly 100 officers were involved in the investigation on Wednesday.
The police agencies set up a temporary command post near an auto repair garage owned by Thomas Mott, of Congdon Road, about one-half mile from the Briggs' residence. By late afternoon, a command post was set up at the Southport Fire Department. Media were referred to the South Creek Fire Department.
As night fell, 30 police cars responded to what turned out to be a false report of a man holding a gun on a police officer at the Ridgebury Fire Department.
The deputies' deaths follows Friday's shooting death of Philadelphia court officer Joseph E. LeClaire, 53, and the wounding of two other court officers as they tried to serve a bench warrant on a man in the city's Germantown section who failed to show for his trial on rape charges.
