Police ID state trooper killed in central Pa. shooting; Shapiro orders flags to half-staff

Authorities have identified two state troopers who were shot, one fatally, in separate but related incidents Saturday afternoon in central Pennsylvania during what one official likened to a “game of cat and mouse” with the suspect, who was ultimately shot and killed by police.

Trooper Jacques F. Rougeau Jr., 29, died after being shot through his car’s windshield around 3 p.m. Saturday in Walker Township, Juniata County, authorities said at a news conference Sunday. The same gunman, Brandon Stine, shot Lt. James Wagner, 45, the station commander at Troop G, Bedford Station, a couple hours earlier, police said.

Lt. Col. George Bivens would not go into detail regarding Stine’s motive, citing an ongoing investigation, but called Saturday’s tragic encounters with him “an amazingly intense gunfight” and “a war zone.”

According to police, Stine used a large-caliber rifle, typically used for game hunting, to shoot at law enforcement and their vehicles multiple times across three locations in Juniata County.

The day of deadly chaos began when Stine, 38, of the small borough of Thompsontown in Juniata County, drove his truck into the parking lot of the Pennsylvania State Police Lewistown Station around 11 a.m. and fired shots at patrol vehicles, triggering a search for him.

Wagner had been serving as officer of the day while Commissioner Christopher Paris accompanied Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Joe Biden to a media briefing in Philadelphia about the reconstruction of the section of I-95 that collapsed after a tanker truck carrying gasoline overturned and burst into flames on June 11.

Stine shot Wagner around 12:45 p.m. in Mifflintown Borough, police said. Bystanders used Wagner’s car radio to summon help, Bivens said. Wagner was taken to a local hospital and flown to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where he was reported in critical condition Sunday.

The search for Stine — which included multiple phone calls that officials said he made to the 911 call center — continued. Just before 3 p.m. he was located in a rural shopping plaza area in Walker Township where nearby restaurant patrons were forced to lock down inside, authorities said.

Bivens described a chaotic chain of events, with cars getting crashed into and officers getting out of still-moving vehicles in an attempt to get Stine away from the general public.

After further search, Stine was located in the area of Swamp Road and Baumgardner Drive in Walker Township. There, troopers and Stine exchanged gunfire and both Stine and Rougeau were killed.

“We are working on a full and unlimited investigation,” Paris said Sunday. “In my opinion, after watching and being briefed, it’s a miracle no members of the public were hurt or killed.”

He called the shootings of Rougeau and Wagner “a tragedy for Pennsylvania State Police.”

Rougeau, who was assigned to the Troop G, Lewistown Station, had been a state police trooper since June 2020, becomes the 104th member of the state police to die in the line of duty, police said.

Sunday afternoon, Shapiro called for commonwealth flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Rougeau until the date of his burial, which had not yet been announced.

The shooting comes nearly two weeks after Anthony Allegrini Jr., 18, of Glen Mills, was shot and killed by a state trooper on I-95 in Philadelphia after authorities say he failed to yield and struck two troopers with his Audi near Penn’s Landing.