DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A 27-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting to a rampage last March that killed members of his family and caused a panicked state of emergency across Bucks County.
Andre Gordon was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole, followed by an additional 156 1/2 to 313 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to more than 30 charges, including three counts of first degree murder, carjacking, and aggravated assault during a deadly rampage.
Gordon admitted that on March 16 last year, he shot and killed his stepmother Karen Gordon, 52, and her daughter, his 13-year-old half-sister. He then drove to another home and killed Taylor Daniel, the 25-year-old mother of his two children, while their daughters, ages three and five, hid under a blanket in the same room where their mother was shot.
The women were on the phone in separate 911 calls as they were killed. Bucks County District Attorney Jen Schorn played the recordings at Gordon’s sentencing.
“And then you hear once a five-year-old, who I won't mention by name, is able to peek out from the covers, she says, ‘Mommy.’ Those two 911 calls, it doesn't get worse than that,” she said.
Prosecutors also played a recording of an interview with the five-year-old.
“You heard her five-year-old child describe they were hiding under her little sister's Spidey covers, and she put her hand over her little sister's mouth because she was afraid Daddy would ‘pew’ them too with the gun gesture,” said Schorn.
Before the shootings, Gordon stole a car from a woman with her grandson, then drove to both homes to commit the killings. After the incidents, he stole another vehicle at gunpoint from a 44-year-old man in a Dollar General parking lot. That prompted a shelter-in-place order that canceled several St. Patrick’s Day parades across lower Bucks County.
He then drove to Trenton, where he barricaded himself inside a home and took the occupants hostage. SWAT teams surrounded the residence and were able to rescue four hostages before launching gas canisters into the house. Gordon, however, had already escaped the house, but peacefully surrendered after being discovered by officers.
According to the district attorney, prosecutors were prepared to seek the death penalty. After speaking with the family, they decided against it. However, Schorn said she argued for the stacked sentences to make sure Gordon remained in prison if laws regarding life without parole were to change.
“We need to be clear on this record that it is our intention that this defendant will die within the four walls of the correctional facility,” she said, “and that is the only way that justice will be served in this case.”