Philadelphia shooting suspect arrested after three people killed

A manhunt for a suspect involved in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Philadelphia-area suburb ended after authorities arrested 26-year-old Andre Gordon from New Jersey. The man reportedly barricaded himself after killing his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, his 13-year-old sister Kera Gordon and the mother of his children, 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, authorities said, who had launched the search operation Saturday morning (Mar 16).

He is also believed to have used a rifle to bludgeon Daniel’s mother. Police said three other people were found hidden in Gordon’s stepmother and sister’s house and the killer searched the property.

Associated Press reported that Gordon executed the killings in Falls Township, Buck County, in two separate incidents.

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Bucks County District Attorney, Jennifer Schorn, said the suspect didn’t have any weapon at the time of his arrest.

Residents were ordered to take shelter

On Saturday morning, residents of the Falls Township, one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Pennsylvania, were asked to take shelter in their homes as the manhunt continued.

Speaking at a news conference, the Falls township police chief Nelson Whitney said that there was “nothing that would indicate that anything like this would happen”, the Associated Press reported.

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The order was later withdrawn at 1 pm.

As police chased him, Gordon tried to carjack a stranger and flee the scene.

Suspect used AR-15-styled rifle?

During an afternoon press briefing, a Falls Township police officer informed reporters that they suspected Gordon possessed a rifle styled after an AR-15. These types of firearms have frequently been used in mass shootings nationwide, leading to calls for their ban by observers.

However, the incident in Pennsylvania narrowly missed meeting the informal criteria for a mass shooting, as defined by the Gun Violence Archive, which requires at least four victims to be killed or wounded.

Analysis conducted by the research organisation Everytown for Gun Safety revealed that between 2015 and 2022, mass shootings involving assault-style rifles resulted in six times as many injuries and twice as many fatalities compared to shootings involving other types of firearms, highlighting the deadly efficiency of these weapons.

(With inputs from agencies)