Pa. State Police: Teen Stole Car, Gun, Fired at Trooper

Jan. 27, 2014
Both the 16-year-old suspect and the trooper escaped injuries following the shootout Sunday.

A 16-year-old from Mifflinburg faces attempted homicide and other charges after a shootout with a state police trooper on Interstate 81 in Franklin County on Sunday.

Sean Patrick Sellers is also charged with attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, attempted simple assault, theft, carrying a firearm without a license, reckless endangerment and traffic violations, according to a news release from state police.

Sellers is charged as an adult, police said.

Both Sellers and the trooper escaped injuries in the fire fight that happened after the trooper stopped the black Chevrolet Impala Sellers was driving on I-81 in Greene Township.

Trooper Michael Quinn, who's stationed at the Chambersburg barracks, stopped the car near mile marker 18 a little after 7 a.m. for failing to drive in a single lane on the highway, police said.

When Quinn approached the car, Sellers pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and allegedly fire a single round at the trooper, missing him, police said.

Quinn was able to get behind the stoppped car and returned fire as Sellers fired additional rounds at the trooper, police said.

Sellers then surrendered and was taken into custody by Quinn and responding troopers, police said.

Police allege Sellers stole both the car and the pistol from a home in Mifflinburg, Union County, earlier that morning. It's not known why he was driving in Franklin County, police said.

Quinn, who joined the state police in February 2013, has been placed on limited duty pending an internal investigation, which is standard procedure for trooper-involved shootings, police said.

Previous incident The shooting happened less than a month after a Maine man was gunned down a few miles away also on I-81.

Timothy Davison, 28, was driving home to Maine after visiting family in Florida when he was fatally shot after his SUV was rammed off the highway north of the Maryland line early on Jan. 4, state police had said.

Davison called 911 from I-81 near Maryland early Saturday to say someone in a pickup truck was firing on him, then he was forced into a median before the assailant approached and fired several rounds at him.

Police say the shooting occurred in the southbound lanes in Antrim Township, about 10 miles north of Hagerstown, Maryland.

He died at a York hospital following the 2:10 a.m. attack.

The FBI and state police from Pennsylvania and Maryland are investigating that shooting.

Copyright 2014 - The York Dispatch, Pa.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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