EAST LANSDOWNE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Two police officers who took gunfire from an unknown shooter while responding to reports of gunfire are expected to be OK. Delaware County officials fear, however, that a number of people may have been inside the home when it subsequently caught fire and burned to the ground.
According to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, officers from Upper Darby, East Lansdowne, and Lansdowne responded to a call that an 11-year-old girl had been shot at a home on Lewis Avenue between Pembroke and East Baltimore avenues a few minutes past 3:45 p.m. Wednesday. When they arrived on the scene, they were met with gunfire, and two officers were struck.
Moments later, a fire erupted inside the home, tearing through all three floors and shooting through the roof. It took fire crews more than an hour to contain the blaze. Before the fire was contained, it spread to a neighboring house, causing minor damage to its roof.
Roads in the area were shut down for hours. At one point, officers with high-powered rifles were seen roaming the area of the house.
Stollsteimer says the officers, one from the East Lansdowne district and the other from Lansdowne, were "dragged out of danger" by supporting officers on the scene and taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital.
One officer was shot in the arm, the other in the leg. They are expected to be okay. The identities of the officers were not revealed but both men are have been with their respective departments for at least 20 years.
"We will continue the investigation to know whether or not an 11-year-old was or was not shot but more importantly who shot these police officers," he said. "We intend to hold everyone accountable."
Stollsteimer said late Wednesday that because the fire was still smoldering, it was still too dangerous for investigators to examine what was left the house. As a result, many details remained unknown, but he said there were a number of family members living in the home, including children, who are not accounted for.
"I will say with a heavy heart that we are afraid there might be more than one person in that in that house," he said.
"There are at least 6 to 8 people who are unaccounted for from that family. It is our terrible fear that they may be inside that house when it was burned. We are hopeful that that is not true, but we will not know until tomorrow morning."
Stollsteimer said local police will make sure the active crime scene is secure overnight. In the morning, he said, they will work with county detectives to comb through the scene to look for human remains and evidence of the fire's origin.
"There's going to be a lot of work ahead of us — gruesome work," the D.A. said.