Gunman, 2 Others Dead in Pennsylvania Shooting Spree

Gunman shot 3 in bar, broke into stranger's home
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2019 6:03 AM CST
Gunman, 2 Others Dead in Pennsylvania Shooting Spree
State College Police respond to a shooting at P.J. Harrigan's Bar & Grill at the Ramada Inn Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, in State College, Pa.   (Abby Drey/Centre Daily Times via AP)

Police in Pennsylvania are trying to determine the motive behind a Thursday night shooting spree that left three people dead, including the gunman, and two others hospitalized in critical condition. Police say it began at 10:30pm at PJ Harrigan's bar in State College, when a gunman identified as 21-year-old Jordan Witmer shot and killed 62-year-old Ohio man Dean Beachy, the Centre Daily Times reports. Witmer also shot and critically injured a man and woman in the bar, police say. State College Police Chief John Gardner says the only victim Witmer had any known connection with was the woman in the bar, who was a current or former girlfriend, WJAC reports.

Police say that after the shootings in the bar, which is less than two miles from the Penn State campus, Witmer fled and broke into a nearby residence after crashing his vehicle. He then shot and killed 83-year-old homeowner George McCormick before taking his own life, police say. Gardner says McCormick's wife hid in a bedroom after her husband was shot and called 911. Witmer had shot himself by the time officers arrived. "We're still trying to piece together this tragedy and try to make sense of it," the chief told reporters. "But the more I think about it, there's no sense to it." (More Pennsylvania stories.)

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