Chase, shootout leave trooper, kidnapper dead

updated 8:15 a.m. ET June 8, 2009

TOBYHANNA, Pa. - A man who kidnapped his 9-year-old son in northeastern Pennsylvania led police on a 40-mile chase that ended in an exchange of gunfire that killed him and a state trooper, state police said Monday. Another trooper was wounded and hospitalized.

The chase Sunday night began outside Easton and ended in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, in the Pocono Mountains when the suspect crashed his car, according to Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Harry Lewis. He said the suspect and police then traded gunfire.

The 31-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, died at the scene, state police said.

Trooper Joshua Miller, 34, was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, where he died of his gunshot wounds, police said. His colleague, 35-year-old Robert Lombardo, was listed in satisfactory condition at Community Medical Center in Scranton.

Son not shot
The suspect's son was being checked for injuries, but he was not shot, Lewis said.

The chase was set off at around 7:45 p.m. when Nazareth police were responding to a report of a protection-from-abuse order violation involving a weapon, state police said. The suspect then fled with the boy, police said.

State police said the suspect's car was stopped using "police intervention," but did not elaborate.

The two sides exchanged gunfire as police approached the suspect's car, state police said, but it was unknown who fired first.

State police said they planned to release additional details at a news conference later Monday.

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