JOHNSTOWN —
A lone gunman exchanged fire with officers at Richland Township Police Department this morning, according to Richland Schools Superintendent Tom Fleming, who relayed the information to parents after the school, which is in close proximity to the scene of the shooting, was briefly locked down.
Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said that he believes the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was in surgery early this afternoon.
The Richland Township Police Department has not officially commented on the shooting yet. An unidentified worker in the supervisor's office said that shots had been fired but that officers have “the suspect apprehended and everything is under control.”
Det. Kevin Lehman of the Richland Township Police Department reiterated that and said that the state police were investigating.
Fleming’s voice message went into further detail.
“I was one of the first at the scene to learn that a lone gunman and a police officer engaged in gunfire at the rear of the Richland Township building,” Fleming said. “The suspect was immediately apprehended.”
In addition to Richland High School, Penn Highlands Community College and Pitt-Johnstown also are located within blocks of the police department.
As a precautionary measure, Richland’s schools and Penn Highlands each were locked down. Pitt-Johnstown was not.
“When the police assured me that they believed that the gunman acted alone, they advised me to lift the lockdown, which we did,” Fleming said in the voice message. “For the remainder of today, we are conducting business as usual with the exception of keeping our students indoors during lunch and recess. Please note that the safety of our students was never compromised during this event.”
Fleming told The Tribune-Democrat that parents should expect some delays this afternoon when dismissal occurs because of road closures. As of 2 p.m. the section of Schoolhouse Road in front of the municipal building was still closed.
Penn Highlands was locked down for about 25 minutes, meaning no one could enter or leave its buildings.
“It was just a precautionary measure,” spokeswoman Trish Corle said. “I felt like everybody responded how we would want them to respond.”
UPJ spokesman Bob Knipple said that the university was told that there was no need to lock down.
“There was no danger to the campus,” he said. “Had there been danger, we absolutely would have put our critical response plan into action.”
The Tribune-Democrat will have more on this developing story in Friday’s print and online editions.
Listen to Richland Superintendent Tom Fleming's audio message to parents of Richland students in the right sidebar.
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