FOUNTAIN HILL, Pa. – An 18-year-old shot three people and himself in a hail of gunfire during an argument outside a borough home late Friday, police said.
One of the victims suffered four gunshot wounds; the gunman was arrested after he fled and showed up at the hospital with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg, said Fountain Hill Police Chief Ed Bachert.
None of the wounds appeared to be life-threatening but the three people wounded by the gunman all required surgery, Bachert said.
The suspect is a borough resident. Bachert said he was holding off on identifying the teen pending his arraignment Saturday in district court.
He will be charged with three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of recklessly endangering others and gun crimes, according to the chief.
Bachert said the shooting occurred about 9:55 p.m. in front of a home in the 900 block of Delaware Avenue.
“He showed up at this house. He knew some of the people that were there,” Bachert said. “He showed up, there were words exchanged and shots were fired.”
A woman who lives at the home was wounded in the stomach. Two men who were there suffered gunshot wounds to the leg, and one of them also was shot in the hand and hip, the chief said.
A man who identified himself only as Mike sat on his porch Saturday morning along Delaware Avenue, as a small gathering of state police and other law enforcement officers stood on the next block talking.
He said his younger brother Andy, 41, was the person shot four times.
He said the shooting happened after his brother tried to diffuse a situation after the gunman showed up uninvited and tried to force a female to leave the gathering.
“The guy was saying, ‘I’m going to F you up,’ and everything, so my brother stepped in and said to him, ‘Just go ahead now, everybody is just enjoying themselves, you know, just go ahead,’ to say just get out of here, let everyone just enjoy themselves,” Mike said.
He said that's when the man took out a gun. Mike said his brother grabbed for the gun and was shot in the hand by the man, who then pointed the gun lower and shot several more times.
“I told everyone to leave then, because the situation was getting too deep.”Shooting victim's brother, Fountain Hill
Mike said members of his family, who reside with him, rushed to the scene to help his brother who Mike stressed several times is "a good, good kid."
“He’s the youngest, the baby of the family, that’s why everyone protects him, yeah, he’s a good kid,” Mike said. “I told everyone to leave then, because the situation was getting too deep.”
Usually quiet neighborhood
Mike said a shooting in the neighborhood is unusual.
“It’s such a nice area here, very quiet, you know?” he said, as he sat on his front porch seat, his military service dog, Bri, on his lap.
It’s a neighborhood that’s a mix of larger apartment homes, single homes with porches, brick row houses, and tidily kept front-yard gardens decorated for the Fourth of July.
Police Chief Bachert said he was grateful for assistance from other departments involved in the investigation.
They included Salisbury Township police, Lower Saucon Township police, Bethlehem Township police, Pennsylvania State Police and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.
The 18-year-old was arrested after he showed up at St. Luke's Anderson Campus with a gunshot wound, Bachert said. He was identified by people that included the victims, according to the chief.
"We knew exactly who he was from the get-go," Bachert said. "He was identified right away."
