Pa. police find pipe bombs in manhunt

Associated Press

BLOOMING GROVE, Pa.

State police searching for a man accused of killing a trooper said Tuesday they found two pipe bombs in the Pennsylvania woods during their manhunt that were capable of causing significant damage.

The bombs were not deployed, but they were fully functional and had both trip wires and fuses, Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a news conference.

The weapons were among several items that were “clearly hastily discarded” at a campsite used by suspect Eric Frein, said Bivens, who then called on the fugitive to surrender.

Frein, 31, has been on the run since Sept. 12, charged with killing one state trooper and wounding a second outside their barracks in Blooming Grove.

The disclosure comes as deer hunters prepare for bow-hunting season to open this weekend. Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau said that assuming Frein is not captured overnight, hunting would be closed in the area of the search, which is teeming with hundreds of heavily armed law-enforcement officers.