Roads, Schools Shut Down Following Shots Related to Frein Search

Shots were reportedly fired on Thursday evening, prompting state police to place roadblocks around Eric Frein’s parents’ house in the mountains.

“Once we realized we possibly had an unsafe condition developing, roads were closed,” Barrett Township Police Chief Steven Williams told Lehigh Valley Live.

“Every officer was carrying a shotgun,” area resident Linda Kuznesoff-Herman told WYOU-TV in Scranton. “I just never really saw shotguns and all this stuff with the officers like the Wild West.”

Local schools were closed on Thursday and Friday. Local businesses have also closed “out of inconvenience or fear,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We’re systemically taking away any opportunities for him for cover and concealment, for any comfort,” Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters Thursday afternoon, hours after the funeral for Cpl. Bryon Dickson.

Frein, who has been described as a survivalist, is reported to be heavily armed and dangerous. He could be equipped to hide in the woods for a long time.