CNN
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A 26-year-old man is facing murder and other criminal charges after allegedly killing three people, including his 13-year-old sister, at two different homes in Pennsylvania before carjacking a driver and fleeing to New Jersey.
In Pennsylvania, Andre Gordon is facing murder, burglary, and assault charges, along with multiple other criminal charges related to the shootings, court documents show.
Andre Gordon is accused of killing the three people in Falls Township on Saturday morning, according to authorities, before crossing state lines where he was eventually arrested. He carried out the attacks with an “AR-15 style assault rifle,” Falls Township Police Chief Nelson Whitney said.
Gordon has not requested a public defender, according to Pennsylvania court documents, and New Jersey officials said earlier Sunday his defense attorney is unknown at this time.
The crime spree triggered temporary shelter-in-place orders for residents in Falls Township as authorities searched for the suspect, with police eventually converging on a home miles away in Trenton, New Jersey, where Gordon now faces carjacking and firearm possession charges.
Gordon was taken into custody without incident, Wilson said. Authorities in Trenton, New Jersey, who were looking to apprehend Gordon, initially believed he was barricaded inside a home, prompting a perimeter of the area to be set up, he said.
“Apparently, before the perimeter was completed, the suspect was able to get out of the location unseen. However, our information was that he was still in there,” Wilson said.
Gordon was arrested two blocks away from the home in which police thought he was barricaded in, Trenton mayor Reed Gusciora said, adding the suspect did not have any weapons when he was arrested and cooperated with police. Gusciora said he felt “really grateful” after Gordon’s arrest.
In addition to the Pennsylvania charges, Gordon faces seven charges in New Jersey, according to a news release from the office of state Attorney General Matthew Platkin, including first-degree carjacking, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm, among others.
“The string of violent acts that took place yesterday, allegedly at the hands of a single armed individual, alarmed and terrorized communities in Bucks and Mercer counties,” Platkin said. “It is the latest in a horrific litany of illustrations of how illegal guns and assault rifles can empower one aggrieved and disturbed actor to do immense damage and leave a trail of tragedies in their wake.”
Here’s what we know about the killings and the investigation so far:
Just before 9 a.m., Falls Township Police said officers were called to investigate a reported shooting on Viewpoint Lane in Levittown, Pennsylvania.
Gordon, who was driving a stolen vehicle from Trenton, fatally shot his 52-year-old stepmother Karen Gordon and his 13-year-old sister Kera Gordon in their home, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a Saturday afternoon news conference. Three other family members who were in the home, including one minor, successfully hid from Gordon during the attack, according to Schorn.
The three family members “were able to hide and avoid being shot by…
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