commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Let’s get real, my friends. Haven’t most of us –at one time of another – fantasized about taking someone (or several someones) out? It could be the slick fellow who his eased his way into the life of the beauty who told us she merely wanted to be friends. It could be the co-worker who badmouthed us to the boss. It could be the so-called friend who double-crossed us when the chips were down. It could be any of these people and a whole lot more.
Personally, I sometimes fantasize about taking out certain someones but I never go beyond mere fantasy because the wee small voice of conscience reminds me that I’m being an idiot and that I should “forget it” and go about my business of being a good American citizen. So to the best of my ability, I do. But for every 10,000 or so of us (including myself) who are content with mere aberrant fantasies that we would never actually carry out, there is that one peculiarly determined soul who not only conceives of a plan to commit mayhem, but plans it carefully, and executes it with consummate skill.
Such a person appears to be suspected Pennsylvania cop-killer, 31 year old Eric Matthew Frein, who before going on the run and taking to the hinterlands, “lived with his parents in Canadensis, about 20 miles from where the troopers were shot outside their barracks in Blooming Grove.”
An arrest warrant has been issued for Frein, who is accused of the first-degree murder of Cpl. Bryon Dickson II, a 38-year-old married father of two, at the Pike County barracks in Blooming Grove. A second trooper, Alex Douglass, 31, was wounded as he arrived for duty late on Friday, September 19th.
Although the officers were armed and in uniform, Frein’s alleged ambushed was carried out so smoothly from the woods across from the station that neither had a chance to return fire, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The sniper, who used a high-powered .308-caliber rifle, also shot at a civilian dispatcher who tried to aid the wounded Dickson at the front door. Fortunately, the dispatcher escaped harm. The available video surveillance indicates that the gunman fired four shots in about a minute and a half before disappearing back into the woods.
John Johnson of Newser Staff writes:
The barracks is in a wooded area, and a massive air and ground search was launched immediately after (the attack). “This has been an emotional night for all of us,” said state police commissioner Frank Noonan. (At the time, Noonam) did not speculate about a motive but said the attack appeared to be “directed particularly at the Pennsylvania state police,” reports CNN. Noonan said he did not think the public was in danger, but added, “We can’t say that the situation is completely in hand.”
In a subsequent statement in which Frein was named as the suspect, Commissioner Noonan stated: “He made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers and to commit mass acts of murder.”
Frein was identified as a suspect when someone walking a dog spotted a jeep that was apparently stuck in a pond about two miles from the barracks, according to Philly.com.
Insider the jeep, police found camouflage paint and military gear that they were able to trace to Frein. CNN reports that this led them to Frein’s parents’ house where they found spent shell casings “that matched those used in the shooting.” Based on information they have gleaned, “Noonan described the 6-1, 165-pound Frein as a survivalist who should be considered armed and dangerous.”
Frein’s father put it pithily in an interview with Philly.com stating that Frein “doesn’t miss”.
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The cop-killing happened on Friday night. As of this posting, it is Friday morning. Thus, the manhunt for Frein has entered its seventh day. Although it would appear that it is only a matter of time until law enforcement flushes this fiend out and brings him to justice, the fact he has eluded them for this long does suggest that he is a “damned good survivalist.”
Rob Quinn of Newser Staff writes:
Police combing a heavily wooded area of Pennsylvania for the survivalist suspected of shooting two state troopers are starting to suspect he is playing some kind of twisted game with them. Almost 1,000 officers are combing the area for Eric Frein, and there have been repeated sightings of a hooded figure dressed in black that police believe is the suspect. “There have been pursuits. The type of terrain and cover, he has had the ability to disappear,” a police spokesman tells ABC. “Some of the sightings have occurred in circumstances where he kept himself far enough away where he knew that it was unlikely someone could get to him.”
All of the factors including the careful preparations that culminated in a perfectly executed ambush, and the fact he has managed to elude law enforcement up until now, has led the authorities to conclude that the 31-year-old Frein planned the attack and his escape for months or even years.
Oddly, Frein has left a bizarre trail of dirty diapers and Serbian cigarettes behind him. Investigators believe that the diapers fit the profile of a trained sniper trying to “stay in position for a longer period of time.” The cigarettes may signal his involvement with a group of Eastern European military enthusiasts, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Despite the fact that Frein has led law enforcement personnel “on a merry chase”, they appear to be closing in slowly but surely and “the search area has narrowed to a few square miles after an extensive search that has involved checking numerous abandoned buildings—and evicting some bears from their caves—say police, who warn that Frein needs to surrender before he “gets hurt or worse.”
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One of the dangers here, of course, is that although the end of Frein’s time as a free man is drawing steadily closer, there is no guarantee that law enforcement will be able to “take him alive”. If he is killed, or if he ultimately takes his own life, it will be a terrible letdown and we will probably never know just what led this peculiar man to ambush innocent law enforcement personnel.
In a more general sense, this case is a good object lesson in why we should never let our aberrant social impulses lead us to actually commit mayhem. The powers that be will always come after you, and given their superior firepower and numbers, they will ultimately capture you, although by that point you may be reduced to a mere corpse.