Suspect in Pennsylvania police attacks may think he’s European soldier

The Pennsylvania man accused of gunning down a state trooper in an ambush last week might believe he is an Eastern European soldier and has a grudge against law enforcement that goes back nearly eight years, police said on Wednesday.

Eric Matthew Frein, a 31-year-old said to have anti-government leanings, opened fire on a group of state troopers outside the Blooming Grove barracks on Sept. 12, killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounding Trooper Alex T. Douglass, authorities have said.

On Wednesday, Lt. Col. George Bivens, deputy commissioner of operations for the State Police, told reporters that Frein belongs to a “military simulation unit” based in Eastern Pennsylvania.

“In his unstable frame of mind, Frein now appears to have assumed that role in real life,” Bivens said.

In preparing for the shootings, Bivens said, Frein recently shaved his head on both sides and grew long hair on top.

According to a criminal complaint filed with the Pike County district attorney’s office Tuesday, Frein opened fire at the barracks with a .308 caliber rifle, striking Dickson twice from long range.

He wounded Douglass and nearly shot another trooper who was trying to aid Dickson, stopping the barrage only after police drove a sport-utility vehicle into the path of his bullets, according to authorities.

Frein’s parents told police that the rifle used in the attacks and an AK-47 were missing from the family’s home, according to the criminal complaint. Frein was trained to shoot by his father, a U.S. Army veteran, and “doesn’t miss,” the complaint says.

Bivens told reporters on Wednesday that authorities do not believe the public is at risk, as Frein’s focus is to attack law-enforcement officers. Bivens said Frein’s capture was imminent.

“As I did the other day, I’d like to directly address Eric Frein again. Eric, in the event you are listening to this broadcast on a portable radio, while cowering in some cold damp hiding place -- we are coming for you,” he said “And it’s only a matter of time until we bring you to justice for this cowardly attack.”

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