Man pumping gas at Pennsylvania convenience store killed, shooter dead
UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. (NewsNation Now) — People on a morning run to a convenience store in Pennsylvania on Wednesday encountered a series of seemingly random shootings that left a truck driver pumping gas dead, another man wounded and a gunman taking his own life, officials said.
The first shooting started several miles away, Lehigh District Attorney James Martin said Wednesday, when the gunman shot at a woman’s vehicle while both were driving along Route 22.
The woman told prosecutors she didn’t realize her car had been hit with a bullet until she stopped at a Wawa store for a breakfast sandwich reported NewsNation affiliate PHL17. The store is in Upper Macungie Township, a suburb of Allentown. She was uninjured.
The shooter — driving a white Toyota Corolla — also drove to the same store, then shot and wounded a man in a Jeep in the parking lot, Martin said. He then shot and killed a truck driver who was pumping gas.
The district attorney said the shooter fled on foot and then took his own life.
Authorities were trying to determine a motive and Martin said the preliminary investigation indicated the shootings were “indiscriminate” and unrelated.
The shootings drew a large police presence and the search for the gunman extended to a day care center several miles away. Nearby businesses and a school closed.
The injuries to the man in the Jeep who was wounded were not considered life-threatening, Martin said.
Authorities did not release the names of the victims or shooter.
Officials said a Wawa employee took several customers to safety. The worker heard the gunfire and ushered customers inside, warned coworkers and also locked the store’s front doors.
Arthur Sanchez, a security guard for a nearby business, told The Morning Call that he parked next to a car that had bullet holes and shattered windows on its passenger side. He had stopped at the Wawa before work.