Authorities: Man suspected of killing of 3 in Pennsylvania arrested in Trenton
Authorities say 26-year-old Andre Gordon allegedly shot and killed the victims Saturday morning in Falls Township and Levittown, Pennsylvania.
More Stories
Authorities say a man who is accused of killing three people in Pennsylvania and barricaded himself inside a Trenton home Saturday was taken into police custody.
They say 26-year-old Andre Gordon allegedly shot and killed the victims Saturday morning in Falls Township and Levittown, Pennsylvania.
After the killings, police say Gordon carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint and drove to a home on Phillips Avenue in Trenton, where an hours-long stand off took place.
Law enforcement officers got into the tense standoff around 10:30 a.m. on Phillips Avenue with the suspect they believed was barricaded inside a home.
"Apparently, intelligence gathered during our investigation led law enforcement to believe that the suspect was inside the address down the street on Phillips Avenue, and a perimeter was then set up. However, apparently before the perimeter was completed, the suspect was able to get out of the location unseen," said Trenton Police Director Steve Wilson.
Law enforcement at the local, county, state and federal level coalesced on the 100 block of Phillips Avenue, speaking to Gordon through a megaphone. They also fired tear gas in an effort to get him to exit the home. Wilson said they had reason to believe that he was in fact at the house at one point.
"We still have to act as if they’re in there, and if that’s the latest information that we have, then we have to set up and conduct our operation accordingly," Wilson explained.
While a side of Phillips Avenue remained blocked off for more than six hours, police said officers apprehended Gordon across the street, a few blocks away on New York Avenue.
"They received information that he was walking and they actually located him out on the street," Wilson said.
Gordon was taken into policy custody unarmed and without incident more than 8 hours after police say he stole a car in Trenton.
News 12's Joti Rekhi's 5:30 p.m. report from Trenton.
After allegedly stealing a car in Trenton, authorities said he then fled to Pennsylvania where he fatally shot three people.
They believe he killed his stepmother, his teenage sister and the mother of his children at two homes in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said.
She identified his stepmother as 52-year-old Karen Gordon, his 13-year-old sister as Kera Gordon and the mother of his children as 25-year-old Taylor Daniel.
Gordon then allegedly stole another car to come back to Trenton.
"Coming to a peaceful resolution is the ultimate goal of the police department and all the law enforcement that's involved. There was enough damage and mayhem done and loss of life today and we didn’t want that to happen at the conclusion," Wilson said.
Wilson said that he did not believe the suspect was armed at the time.
Officials said they couldn’t speak as of Saturday night into a motive for the attacks. While Gordon had had some minor brushes with the law, they were “nothing that would indicate that anything like this would happen,” said Falls Township Police Chief Nelson Whitney during a news conference.
The mayhem forced the cancellation of a St. Patrick’s Day parade and shut down a Sesame Street-themed amusement park. Authorities in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County issued a shelter-in-place order for some areas for several hours.
After fleeing in a stolen car, then taking another in a carjacking in a store parking lot, authorities said Gordon then went to the home in nearby Trenton. It was by midafternoon when officers surrounded the house on a taped-off block, calling to Gordon through a loudspeaker and trying to persuade him to come out.
News 12's Joti Rekhi's 3:30 p.m. report from Trenton.
Police in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, said Gordon has ties to addresses in Bucks County and Trenton and “stays in Trenton primarily.”
Gordon was processed at the Trenton Police Department.
He was then taken to Mercer County Prison.
Gordon will be extradited to Pennsylvania and answer to potentially face additional charges.
AP Wire Services contributed additional information for this story.
