NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, Pennsylvania -- Pennsylvania state police said a trooper was shot about 10:40 a.m. on Route 191 near the intersection with Route 33 in Northampton County, prompting a massive pursuit south to Easton Hospital, where police said they apprehended a suspect in the shooting.
Police did not give the condition or name of the trooper who was shot, and have not released details about the suspect or how the shooting unfolded.
At least a dozen officers are at Easton Hospital in Wilson, and a bright blue Pontiac was parked near a hospital door and marked with police tape. According to scanners, police had been searching for a blue Pontiac with the back window shot out.
State dispatchers said a suspect entered the hospital with a gunshot wound.
District Attorney John Morganelli confirmed that a trooper was shot and taken to the hospital.
“All I know is that a state trooper was shot at a traffic stop and that he’s being attended to,” Morganelli said.
A reporter with The Morning Call was in Morganelli’s office when the district attorney was delivered the news by a secretary bearing a note. Morganelli’s face grew pale as he read its contents.
About noon, an ambulance with two black state police SUVs as an escort was seen about noon traveling westbound on Route 22.
According to emergency radio dispatches, police are attempting to locate a second occupant of the vehicle.
Route 33 at Route 191 has been closed. Two police cruisers with lights flashing were on the Route 191 entrance ramp to southbound Route 512. There are about a dozen other cruisers and firetrucks at the intersection.
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