Crime & Safety

3 Shot Dead at Municipal Building

A gunman killed three people at a municipal meeting in Ross Township near Saylorsburg on Monday night.

A disgruntled Ross Township resident is the suspect in a mass shooting that left three people dead at a meeting at the township's municipal building near Saylorsburg on Monday night, according to multiple reports.

Dave Fleetwood, a supervisor from neighboring Chestnuthill Township, and two residents were killed, according to the Pocono Record.

The shooting happened about 20 miles north of Easton.

Self-described junk collector Rockne Newell, 59, has been fighting with township officials for years over his neglected property, where human feces were found in buckets in 2009, according to a Pocono Record report.

The gunman began shooting into the meeting room at 7:15 p.m. while 15-18 people were inside, WFMZ reports.

Pocono Record Reporter Chris Reber described hearing 10 shots and seeing plaster fly off the walls.

Some people hid behind a table. Reber was able to crawl out a side door and hide behind an SUV., where he watched as Newell went out to a car to get a second gun.

A township official and a resident tackled Newell when he came back into the building. 

Two people died at the scene; a third died after being flown to St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, according to the Express Times.


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