Police ID victim in shooting at Poconos municipal building; suspect in custody
CRESCO, Pa. (AP) -- Pennsylvania State Police have identified the man shot and killed inside a Poconos municipal building, as well as the man taken into custody at the scene.
The victim of the shooting in Paradise Township was identified as 65-year-old Michael Tripus. The township's website listed him as the sewage enforcement and building code officer.
Police say a gunman walked inside the municipal building in the Pocono Mountains around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday and opened fire. State and local police took 72-year-old David Green of Swiftwater into custody without incident.
State police haven't said what motivated the shooting.
Gary Konrath, chairman of the township's Board of Supervisors, said he was not in the building at the time but spoke to the township's executive secretary, who was.
"She's extremely shaken up," he said.
Konrath said she told him the gunman is "not someone they are aware of. No one appears to recognize the individual."
The township is in a rural area and has a population of about 3,200. It employs three full-time workers and one part-time worker in the office, and six on the road crew. The township building has no security camera, but there is a panic button that links to 911, according to Konrath.
Paradise Township is about 20 miles north of Ross Township, where a gunman opened fire at a Board of Supervisors' meeting in 2013, killing three.