The person who called 911 to a home in the Philadelphia suburb of East Lansdowne on Wednesday was likely the same man who shot at officers when they came to investigate his report that a child had been shot inside, law enforcement sources tell the Philadelphia Inquirer, The unidentified gunman, is also believed to have started the fire in the home’s third-floor attic that later destroyed it, Police were working Thursday to sift through the evidence at the burned-out hollow of that home, where two different families — adults and their children — lived. The families were related to each other.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said that as many as eight family members were unaccounted for. The home’s occupants had no prior criminal contact with police, and law enforcement had not been called there for any mental-health or domestic-violence concerns. The 911 call that summoned officers there about 4 p.m. Wednesday was made by a man who said that an 11-year-old had been shot inside. Investigators were working to determine Thursday if, indeed, a shooting had taken place inside. The first officer on the scene was shot in the arm by the gunman, who fired at him from a window on the home’s third floor. Another officer was shot in the leg after he arrived moments later,.