US man allegedly kills three people, including 13-year-old sister

Andre Gordon is facing murder, burglary, and assault charges, along with multiple other criminal charges related to the shootings, court documents show.

Gordon is accused of killing the three people in Falls Township on Saturday (local time), 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.

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 kilometres 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 New Jersey 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, including first-degree carjacking, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm.

“The string of violent acts that took place yesterday, allegedly at the hands of a single armed individual, alarmed and terrorised 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.”