Police lift Poconos limits; hunt for killer goes on

[Silent_Bob]

http://articles.philly.com/2014-09-22/news/54165502_1_barrett-township-state-troopers-pocono-mountains

CANADENSIS, Pa. - Heavily armed officers in camouflage swarmed through the Pocono Mountains in armored personnel carriers over the weekend, searching the dense woods for alleged police killer Eric Frein.

Helicopters hovered all day Saturday as 8,000 residents of Barrett and Price Townships hunkered down under a state police shelter-in-place order, which remained in effect until 8:30 p.m.

State police continued to urge caution overnight, warning residents to stay in their homes and not go into the woods where officers were searching.

Such routine Saturday activities as football games had been canceled. Diners were empty, and churches called off Sunday services as the hunt continued. Many residents, blocked from their homes in the crisis area for a second night, had prepared to sleep again in their cars or in a nearby firehouse.

State police said Saturday that reports of gunfire exchanged with the suspect Friday night were incorrect. A Barrett Township supervisor had reported a firefight.

"No idea where that came from," state police spokeswoman Maria Finn said in an e-mail. "Wasn't PSP with Frein."

State police issued a memo at midafternoon, saying "PSP does not have Frein in custody; however, our troopers are determined to find him and bring him to justice." The release said that there were no investigative updates but that "due to the violent nature of his crimes, extreme precautionary measures are being taken." A memo at 8:35 p.m. reiterated those warnings.

Joining state and local police in the search were agents from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Pennsylvania Game Commission. A reward of $175,000 has been offered for information leading to Frein's capture, authorities said.

"Police are just nonstop around here," said one woman, a neighbor of Frein's, as helicopters hovered. "They thought this man was in my backyard last night. It's very frightening."

The woman, who did not want her name used, told The Inquirer that authorities ordered residents not to leave their houses - and that those who did found themselves unable to return. The affected area spans nearly 80 square miles.

Some, like Harry Bryant II, had worried he'd face another night of sleeping without a bed or on a cot at the Mountainhome firehouse-turned-shelter, which opened for a second night.

By nightfall, the firehouse parking lot was filled with the cars of civilians and some state troopers, who stopped by to eat some of the donated food.

Officers with machine guns guarded roads leading to a group of houses that included the one Frein shared with his parents in the village of Canadensis.

Authorities said searchers using infrared cameras and dogs were making progress but had confirmed no sightings.

Some teams methodically scoured the woods, acre by acre, one remote hunting cabin after another. Others responded to tips, sometimes shutting down roads as they cautiously approached areas under suspicion.

Complicating the search was the number of calls from residents reporting the sound of gunshots in an area where the use of guns for hunting and recreation is common.

"We're determined," Trooper Tom Kelly said. "Our hindrance is the vast woods and openness of it. But we'll clear the area. It just takes time."

Frein, 31, allegedly shot two troopers Sept. 12 with a high-powered rifle outside the police barracks on a rural road in Blooming Grove, in nearby Pike County. Cpl. Bryon Dickson was buried Thursday. Trooper Alex Douglass, shot in the pelvis, was critically injured and is recovering.

Frein became a suspect Monday afternoon after authorities discovered his crashed and abandoned Jeep Cherokee near the crime scene.

Police described him as a self-taught survivalist who harbors a long-held grudge against law enforcement and government.

Frein has been on the run since. He was added to the FBI's 10 Most-Wanted List, and hundreds of law enforcement officials have been searching for him. Schools in the area were closed again Friday.

The Mountainhome Diner, about five miles from Frein's house, usually does a steady business Saturday afternoons, but it was dead, definitely the result of the manhunt, waitress Liz Houser said.

"The majority of our customers this morning had slept in their cars last night after being locked out of their homes," she said.

"Everybody's very frustrated," she said. "People have pets they have to get home to. People have to get their medications. A husband couldn't reach his wife and 2-year-old daughter."

Volunteer fire company officials said about 25 people slept Friday night in the firehouse, where they and dozens of exhausted law enforcement officials were fed pizza and grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Nearby, two men sat in a Ford F-150 at a blocked-off road leading to their homes. Eating from a bag of chocolate-chip cookies, one of them said he'd been in the truck since midnight Friday, when his warehouse shift ended, and had been forced to sleep in his seat.

Wendy Frable, spokeswoman for the Pocono Mountain School District, which includes Barrett Township, said one of the middle schools canceled a football game planned for Saturday morning. And one of the high schools canceled a varsity football game that had been rescheduled for Saturday after being postponed Friday night.

Phone calls have poured in with reports of sightings of Frein across this corner of Northeastern Pennsylvania and as far away as New York City, Kelly said. But it appeared Saturday that most of the law enforcement resources were focused on Barrett Township.

Friends of Frein's described him as having a deep interest in the military, which he never joined. Instead, he reenacted battles with fellow enthusiasts and occasionally served as a military history consultant on film projects, friends said. He also became an avid outdoorsman, often hiking and camping in the area for days at a time.

Frein didn't graduate from college, but he attended a total of three semesters at East Stroudsburg University over seven years, majoring in history and then chemistry, officials said.

Frein also took classes over five years at Northampton Community College, focused on general studies, but never earned a degree, officials said.

In 2004, Frein's interest in history collided with the law when he was accused of stealing memorabilia valued at more than $3,000 from a World War II reenactment event in Odessa, N.Y.

He was later identified selling the gear on eBay, court documents say. After failing to show up for his trial in April 2006, Frein spent 109 days in jail, then pleaded guilty to the crime.

It was his only brush with the criminal world, according to authorities. But state police believe it helped spur Frein's negative views of law enforcement and his alleged ambush in Blooming Grove.

[Free libertarian]

  I wonder if the people that prefer to stay in their homes will be killed if they do, for their own "safety".

  It also seems like there is some kind of extra effort being put into finding this suspect.   More effort than if he was suspected of killing "normal people".     Does this mean some pigs are more equal than others?   Yes.  Why yes it does.

[Russell Kanning]

yea there is no limit to what they will do to stop cop killing