Posted on 07/18/2008 10:53:27 AM PDT by Born Conservative
“I had fun,” the man accused of a triple homicide in Scranton said when asked whether he had killed three people.
Ten hours after a grizzly discovery at his residence on South Irving Avenue — three people so badly bludgeoned that the manner of death was difficult to determine — Rushing, 25, was taken into custody just after 4 p.m. in a dramatic scene at a Wilkes-Barre apartment.
The bodies of two young men and a teenage male were discovered by authorities after a 911 call was made just before 7 a.m. Thursday from within 1604 S. Irving Ave.
Dead are Justin Berrios, 21, Dustin Hintz, 22, and Leslie Collier, 16.
Four other people were found bound, but uninjured when police arrived. They are: Berrios’ 2-year-old son, Tristan Hintz-Berrios; Samantha Hintz, 19, the child’s mother; Matthew Collier, 21; and Cynthia Collier, 43, who is the mother of Dustin and Samantha Hintz and Leslie and Matthew Collier. Autopsies were under way late Thursday at Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton Public Safety Director Ray Hayes said.
Lackawanna County Coroner Joseph Brennan was scheduled to perform the postmortem. Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross is expect to assist in pinpointing the time along with the manner and cause of their deaths.
“We are not in a position to categorize how they met their demise. It’s still under investigation and can’t definitely tell you the cause of death,” Hayes said, pending the results of the autopsies, which were not available at press time.
“Based on interviews of people, who we characterized as being spared, we were able to determine the name of the suspect,” Hayes said. “We were able to determine … a familial relation, perhaps that is at the genesis of the issues that occurred today.”
The quiet, working-class South Scranton neighborhood became the scene of Scranton’s first multiple-homicide case since 1999.
“It’s frightening,” said neighbor Jeanne White of 1621 S. Irving Ave. “They kept to themselves and didn’t bother anyone.”
Just after noon, Jose Barrios, Justin Barrios’ father, crossed a police line and headed toward the house before a cadre of officials ushered him away while trying to comfort him.
“I want to know,” a distraught Jose Barrios shouted, seeking details of his son’s murder.
Suspect flees
Police believe Rushing used a gray Mercury Sable to flee the murder scene. The vehicle turned up in Wilkes-Barre early Thursday afternoon.
The search led investigators to a double-block home at 268-270 High St., Wilkes-Barre.
Wilkes-Barre police, state police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals set up a command center about a half-mile away, monitoring the apartment from several unmarked vehicles positioned on High Street and a back alley. A state police helicopter was on standby, periodically conducting fly overs.
From late morning until just after 4 p.m. law enforcement watched and waited. And then they pounced.
The Wilkes-Barre Police Department’s Emergency Response Team, in full ballistics gear and with automatic machine guns, stormed the apartment as scores of marked and unmarked police vehicles closed in from all directions.
After police took Rushing into custody, three more people were removed from the building. Their names were not immediately released.
Wilkes-Barre code enforcement officials posted the property, which building permits indicate is owned by Tom and Carolyn Dunbar, unfit for human habitation. Officials boarded up windows broken during the struggle.
Rushing, meanwhile, was expected to be arraigned before Magisterial District Judge James Gibbons on three counts of general homicide, said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andrew Jarbola. He had not been arraigned at press time.
“Within nine and a half hours, we had him in custody … We had a well organized inter-agency plan,” Scranton police Chief David Elliott said. “This investigation is far from over. Once you take him in, the investigation does not stop.”
Police are expected to gather more evidence from the house today and conduct follow-up interviews, Elliott said.
That smile will be off laughing-boys face soon.
(Closing Eyes) PLEASE BE IN TEXAS, PLEASE BEIN TEXAS, PLEASEBEINTEXAS!!!!)
(Opening Eyes) Pennsylvania!... DAMN!
Kill him...
Given the Doom3 t-shirt, who wants to bet me that violent video games are blamed by someone here?
I must be a racist.
For some reason, as I was reading the article I was picturing him being white.
LOL...my sentiments exactly! We kill em all and let god sort em out!
Seems a waste of man power if they could fire on their own, or perhaps the police were there to supervise the weapons so they wouldn't kill the innocent? Clearly our reported is unacquainted w/ guns...big surprise.
Our brave perp seems not to be a fight to the death type. I'm sure he's looking forward to his all expenses paid trip to criminal school. I'm sure PA liberals will carry water for him rolling out the usual excuses for his bad behavior.
How do you know it's not the guy on the Left?...
He killed a bear?
To keep track of Obama’s >95% faithful constituency - those we should judge by their “character” and not the color of their skin —go here:
FAIR WARNING:
Brace yourself — it ain’t pretty.
He's Doomed, all right.
Just a guess, but I’d say he’s a psychopath.
You were right.........it ain’t pretty.
I grew up in this area fifty years ago. NO thugs, NO crime.
You think maybe they mean grisly? The reporter must not have paid attention in english class...
Beat me to it - though I had some snotty things to say about checking one’s dictionary, etc.
Colonel, USAFR
Now WHY would you even EXPECT a professional journalist to know the difference between “grizzly” and “grisly”?
Total opposite now. Frequent robberies and a fair amount of shootings in and around WB. Lots of drug gangs moved from NYC into the former O'Karma Terrace (the name is changed now; they added peaked roofs and renamed it "Boulevard Townhomes" LOL; they are still "projects").
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