A woman, reported to be 90 years old, was shot and killed in the crossfire between police and a barricaded person inside a Warminster Township apartment complex in Lower Bucks County Tuesday night.
The woman, an innocent bystander, was discovered about 10:30 p.m. following an exchange of gunfire with the man inside an apartment at 675 E. Street Road in Warminster Township, according to emergency radio dispatches.
The man reportedly had barricaded himself in the apartment with a woman during a domestic incident after firing shots from inside the apartment about 8 p.m. The woman inside the apartment managed to escape as police reportedly fired back, according to emergency radio dispatches.
Warminster Township Police Chief S. Michael Murphy held an early morning news conference shown on Philadelphia-area news stations. He said the gunman, identified as 49-year-old Andrew Cairns, was taken into custody about 2:30 a.m. He also offered the department's "deepest sympathies" to the family of the woman who was killed.
Authorities did not specify if police or Cairns shot the woman. She was found in the first-floor apartment directly under Cairns' apartment. Other neighbors were evacuated from their homes when the standoff began about 8 p.m.
Police had reportedly responded to the home for a domestic complaint about four hours earlier on Tuesday.
Copyright 2013 - The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
