MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) — US prosecutors will seek a death sentence for the suspect in the September ambush on two state troopers in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania, which left one officer dead and the other seriously injured, Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin told reporters.
Eric Matthew Frein had been on the run since his shooting attack outside police barracks on September 12. According to Reuters, he was arrested Thursday at an abandoned airport after a seven-week manhunt in the Pocono Mountains.
Pennsylvania police commissioner Frank Noonan told reporters Frein, a survivalist specialist, was on a mission "to attack law enforcement," though questions remain about the reason for his behavior. Frein was previously charged with one count of theft and served a 3 ½-month prison sentence a decade ago.
Police found a US Army manual called "Sniper Training and Employment" during a search of the suspect's house. He was also described as a good sniper by his father, a retired major. Police said Frein had appeared to be treating the manhunt as a game.
The 31-year-old is also accused of illegally possessing weapons of mass destruction, after police found two ready-to-use bombs at his campsite in the forest.
