NEW PHILADELPHIA — Stunned residents watched with binoculars and cell phones as a battering ram smashed open the front door and officers with automatic weapons charged into a row home Monday on the borough’s main street.
After a standoff of more than four hours, officers found a suspect deceased inside 83 Valley Street.
Trooper Ethan Brownback, public information officer at Troop L in Reading, confirmed that the deceased, 44-year-old Kevin Carlos Cole, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police have not revealed precisely when the suspect took his own life, but a post-mortem CT scan was scheduled to be performed Tuesday in the Schuylkill County Coroner’s facility in New Philadelphia.
The incident unfolded over a tense period that disrupted life in the borough and surrounding towns.
Reported to state police at Frackville as a domestic violence incident around 10 a.m., responding officers were fired on multiple times by the suspect as they entered the house, state police reported.
A woman who lives at the address got out safely. Three children who live there were apparently not at home when the incident occurred.
None of the officers fired upon were injured, but the incident evolved into a full-scale operation involving the Troop L Special Emergency Response Team, or SERT, a SWAT-style unit.
Route 209, Valley Street in New Philadelphia, was shut down between Port Carbon and Middleport, a distance of around five miles. Fire police closed adjoining roadways, bringing transportation to a halt in the affected area.
Pottsville Area School District modified its after-school transportation program, ferrying high school students to St. Clair Elementary School for pickup by family members.
Two state police helicopters hovered over the incident command center at the New Philadelphia Post Office. A whirring sound could be heard as drones zipped back and forth over the scene.
Police, some armed with shotguns and automatic rifles, cordoned off the area around the house, less than a block from Holy Cross Catholic Church, awaiting the arrival of the SERT unit.
Around 12:30 p.m., an armored vehicle moved into position near the house, the end one in a row of four, directly across from the old Silver Creek State Bank building.
SERT officers in camouflaged uniforms took up positions with direct line of sight to the affected house. One officer crouched in a side doorway to First United Methodist Church, which sits above Clay Street, and offered a clear view of the front door at 83 Valley Street.
Around 1 p.m., a loud siren rang out. On a loud speaker, an officer said “Kevin, we know you’re in there,” and urged him to come out the front door with nothing in his hands.
The negotiator said the police did not want anything bad to happen, and the charges could be resolved. The suspect was also urged to answer his phone.
A resident monitoring the scene with binoculars reported seeing a drone go into the house and come out.
Soon after, several volleys of shots were fired into the house. To bystanders, there appeared to be no response from inside the house.
SERT officers rushed through the front door around 2 p.m., and emerged a short time later.
It became apparent to onlookers that the suspect was dead.
State police said no one but the suspect was in the house.
Police departments from Frackville, Minersville, Orwigsburg, Saint Clair, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah, Tamaqua and the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s office responded to the incident.