Investigators followed up on leads that one state police spokesman called "fantastic" as the intensive manhunt for a gunman who ambushed two troopers outside their remote barracks, killing one, extended into a fourth day Monday.
Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II, 38, was killed and another trooper was critically wounded in the Friday night attack at the Blooming Grove barracks. The killer slipped away. Authorities have been combing the dense forest surrounding the barracks and stopping motorists at checkpoints throughout the area to ask if they saw anything that could help lead to an arrest.
"We are receiving a large number of leads, all of which are being followed up. Some are fantastic and some dead ends," Trooper Tom Kelly, a police spokesman, said by email Sunday night.
Police released few details about the ambush or the investigation, including the type of weapon used, the number of shots fired, where the shots originated and whether the troopers were able to return fire. Kelly said police were keeping a tight lid on the investigation to "preserve the integrity of the leads."
Reporters saw investigators walk into the dense forest Sunday. Authorities suggested a day earlier that the suspect had already left the area.
Dickson's funeral will be held Thursday at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Scranton. His wife of 10 years and two young sons survive the Marine Corps veteran, who joined the state police in 2007 and had worked as a patrol unit supervisor in the Blooming Grove barracks since June.
The wounded trooper, Alex T. Douglass, a nine-year veteran, was conscious and talking for the first time since he underwent surgery, and investigators planned to interview him.
The developments came as a nonprofit group offered a $50,000 reward for tips about the deadly assault at the remote post in northeastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, which posted the reward offer, asked anyone with information to call 800-4PA-TIPS or submit the tip online (http://bit.ly/1qOzY13 ).
