Deadly Ross Twp. Shooting: ‘We are all Vulnerable,’ Macungie Official Says

Macungie Borough Manager Chris Boehm can’t imagine what the Ross Township community is going through right now, following a deadly shooting rampage at a township supervisors meeting Monday night that killed three people.

But she says she can imagine a tragedy like that happening anywhere.

“That gentleman was responding to an enforcement and sometimes an enforcement goes pretty far,” Boehm says.

Officials say Monday's shooting allegedly was carried out by self-described junk collector Rockne Newell, 59, who has been fighting with township officials for years over his neglected property, where human feces were found in buckets in 2009, according to a Pocono Record report.

The gunman began shooting into the meeting room at 7:15 p.m. while 15-18 people were inside, WFMZ reports.

Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber described hearing 10 shots and seeing plaster fly off the walls.

Dave Fleetwood, a supervisor from neighboring Chestnuthill Township, and two residents were killed, according to the Pocono Record.

Ironically, Boehm learned about the Ross Township shooting while she was participating in a Macungie Borough Council meeting. Macungie Police Chief Ed Harry was at the meeting doing a presentation and he got a text message about what had happened in Ross Township.

“We were all shocked and sad,” Boehm says. “Sad for the victims and their families and for the whole community. I can’t imagine what it will be like there now.

“I am going to be interested to see what they are going to do for their meetings in the future,” Boehm adds. “That is going to be traumatic for them to even have a meeting.”

Lower Macungie Township Commissioner Ryan Conrad shared a link to a story about the shooting on his Facebook page early Tuesday, calling the incident “a tragic and a stark reminder of how vulnerable municipal officials are.”

He said that the Lower Macungie Township Commissioners have considered increased security measures at their meetings, but weren’t really sure how necessary it was to do so.

"[We] also hated the idea of making it more cumbersome to attend our meetings given the level of apathy that already exists,” Conrad wrote. “We have to revisit this topic.”

Boehm says she is pretty sure Macungie Borough will maintain things as they are.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they talk about it,” Boehm says, “but I don’t see any changes happening.

“You can have all the police in the world sitting there in the meeting, but that guy shot from the outside. I don’t think there is any way you can stop it,” she says.