Update 6:45 a.m., Friday, Jan. 25: Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers identified the shooter as 21-year old Jordan Witmer, of Bellefonte, and the two deceased victims as 62-year-old Dean Beachy, of Millersburg, Ohio and 83-year-old George McCormick, of State College. More details here.
Update 1:17 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25: State College Police Chief John Gardner spoke to the media outside the Ramada Hotel in State College, confirming the deaths of three people. He said the shooter killed one man at P.J. Harrigan’s Bar & Grill at the Ramada on South Atherton Street then broke into a home on Tussey Lane and killed the male resident. The shooter then shot and killed himself.
‘Two other victims who had been shot, one female, one male … were taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center and later life flighted from there. They’re in critical condition right now,’ Gardner said. ‘The suspect, the shooter, left this area in a car and subsequently crashed that vehicle up on Waupelani Drive… He then entered a residence on Tussey Lane up there and broke his way in, may even have shot his way in, we’re still trying to piece that together. He shot a male individual — shot and killed a male individual in there. His wife was present, but she locked herself in a bathroom and called 9-1-1. By the time our officers got there, the perpetrator had shot himself in the face and was deceased.’
BREAKING: State College police chief John Gardner confirmed three people, including the shooter, died tonight. pic.twitter.com/lR6oDretbT
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 25, 2019
Original story:
A man was shot in the chest and killed at the Ramada Hotel in State College late Thursday night, as first reported by WTAJ.
Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers confirmed three deaths to the Centre Daily Times, but could not provide additional details. The coroner was dispatched to the Ramada and to the Tussey Lane location, according to dispatch scanners.
Police continue to investigate and it’s unclear whether the suspect remains at large. The suspect was identified as a 5-foot-7, 21-year-old white male from Bellefonte who fled the scene on foot wearing grey outerwear.
According to the Centre County Law Enforcement Dispatch, police found and identified a car crashed on Waupelani Drive believed to be connected to the case, but no one was nearby. That scene was later secured, with a car in a ditch across the street from the State College YMCA. The car was towed from that location at approximately 12:15 a.m. Friday.
WTAJ reported the suspect was last seen on Tussey Lane off Waupelani, and most police left from the scene at the Ramada. According to the police scanner, EMS was dispatched to a residence on Tussey Lane, where the suspect allegedly broke in and shot another victim.
The clinical coordinator from Mount Nittany Medical Center could not confirm whether the hospital was on any sort of lockdown.
