Crime & Safety

Neighbors hear Gunfire, See Men Running from House in South Whitehall

South Whitehall police are still on the scene investigating a shooting reported at 10:30 a.m. They confirm no one was hurt.

 

Charles Remmel was washing his face in his home on Focht Avenue, South Whitehall, when he heard three loud bangs.

"I thought they were trash can lids being banged because it is garbage day," said Remmel.

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He looked out his bathroom window and saw two young, slightly built men running away from a home in the 200 block of Focht Avenue. He said one of the men soon returned and went back into the house.

Pete Choke of Whitehall Avenue said he also heard gunfire and lots of loud "swearing and shouting."

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"I just heard bits and pieces of what they were yelling, like 'you've got five minutes,' and 'you're never going to see him again,'" Choke said.

Then he said he heard a police officer with a megaphone telling "someone to come out of the house."  

At 1 p.m., South Whitehall police were in the driveway of the Focht Avenue home. Earlier, they were seen looking in the woods next to the home.

Police confirmed that shots were fired and that no one was hit. Remmel said police inspected his home for bullets but did not find any.

Soon after the shooting, a person was taken away in an ambulance but it was because the person "was ill because of the excitement," not because the person was shot, according to police.

Remmel said he saw a man handcuffed and taken away but he didn't think it was one of the men he saw running from the house.

People at the scene also said they saw a person taken away in handcuffs.

Lehighvalleylive.com reported that emergency radio transmissions said township police appeared to be searching for a possible male victim and that initial radio reports said someone was shooting at a woman and her fiance.


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