Hope the trooper has a speedy recovery.
Hours after three shootings resulted in a trooper shot and the suspect killed, police have released additional details about the shooter.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico identified the shooter as 51-year-old Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty at a news conference late Friday night.
Though details about El-Mofty are being unraveled by investigators, Marsico said it “certainly appears that there’s no doubt” he was targeting police officers.
Marsico said El-Mofty initially fired “several shots” at a police car belonging to a Capitol City police officer at 4:10 p.m. in the area of 3rdand Walnut streets. One shot came “very close” to hitting the officer, but the officer was able to escape uninjured.
El-Mofty then fired several shots at a Pennsylvania State Police trooper about 30 minutes after the initial shooting.
“She was struck by one of those shots, but is doing well,” Marsico said, adding the trooper is expected to make a full recovery.
Marsico added the trooper was chased by El-Mofty to the Allison Hill section of the city to the area of 17th and Mulberry Streets, where he opened fire at officers with two handguns.
Officers returned fire, shooting and killing El-Mofty. A device was found next to El-Mofty, but Marsico said it ended up being “of no import.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation. Marsico said EL-Mofty has ties to the East and West shore. El-Mofty also has ties to the Middle East, and traveled there recently, according to Marsico.
Marsico declined to comment on if Friday’s shootings were an act of terrorism, saying the motive was still under investigation.
“Obviously, we don’t want people to run wild in speculation,” he said.
Marsico also declined to say whether or not El-Mofty was known to officers prior to Friday’s shootings.
Marsico commended responding agencies, and said the incident could have been “tragic” given that the shots were fired at police cars in rush hour traffic, and then into a residential neighborhood.
“The great work of…