Story highlights
NEW: Pennsylvania state troopers, town hurting as slain officer is buried
Eric Matthew Frein, 31, is wanted in the state trooper's death
Police: Frein was part of military simulation group, is now "acting it out in real life"
Friend: Most of his aggression was toward the federal government
He’s a survivalist with an extensive shooting background and a grudge against law enforcement, officials say.
Eric Matthew Frein apparently cut his hair into a mohawk-style haircut as part of his mental preparation for the attack on police and was active in a military simulation unit that reenacted Cold War-era European conflicts.
And now authorities worry the man suspected of gunning down two Pennsylvania State Police troopers may be on the hunt for more officers.
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Wednesday investigators are trying to determine why Frein may have attacked in the small, central Pennsylvania town of Blooming Grove. But they know that, generally, Frein “has made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers and also to commit mass acts of murder,” according to Noonan.
“He has very strong feelings about law enforcement and seems to be very angry with a lot of things that go on in our society.”
Police say he’s responsible for the chaotic, bloody scene Friday night at the state police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens provided a few new details about Frein, including his apparent fascination with Eastern European armies, their history and attire. His simulation group – which Bivens declined to name – would stage re-enactments using Airsoft guns.
In this case, though, authorities say Frein is using live ammunition and shooting to kill.
“It is believed that Frein has assumed the simulation role, and is now acting it out in real life,” Bivens said.
The police lieutenant colonel said Frein has “his head shaved on the sides with long hair on top,” wider than a “mohawk” haircut, apparently as part of his mental preparation for his attacks on the troopers. The hairstyle is “completely different from what he had worn for years.
In words directed at Frein, Bivens was blunt.
“If you are cowering in some cool damp place,” Bivens said, “We are coming for you. It is only a matter of time until we bring you to justice for committing these cowardly acts.”
Nearly 200 officers are scouring eastern Pennsylvania for Frein. The manhunt has prompted schools in the area to close Wednesday.
Until Frein is caught, no one is letting their guard down. Bivens said Frein has had a “longstanding gripe with law enforcement and government in general” since at least 2006 and will likely “stay focused on that fight.” The police lieutenant colonel thinks he’s likely still in the general area.
“This fellow is extremely dangerous,” Noonan said.
‘Get him inside’
Cpl. Bryon Dickson was just ending his shift around 11:50 p.m. Friday when he walked out the station’s front door. He barely made it outside when a gunman shot him multiple times, a probable cause affidavit said.
Another officer who saw Dickson on the ground came outside to help, the affidavit said. But as Dickson told her what happened, another shot pierced through the air.
According to the documents, Dickson asked his colleague to “get him inside.” But she couldn’t.
At about the same time, a third officer headed in to start his overnight shift. But as Trooper Alex Douglass walked toward the front door, he, too, was shot, the affidavit said.
While Douglass managed to crawl into the station, other officers had to devise a plan to safely move Dickson inside. They swooped into the front of the building in a marked SUV to block troopers as they brought Dickson into the building.
But it was too late. Dickson was declared dead at the station.
Douglass was rushed to a hospital in Scranton and is recovering from a gunshot wound to the pelvic area.
Authorities have been looking for Frein since.
They haven’t found him. But, on Monday morning, a man walking his dog in a wooded area of Pike County noticed a green Jeep slightly submerged in a retention pond, according to the affidavit.
As he walked closer, he noticed no one was inside.
But when troopers executed a search warrant, they found a cache of items inside: two spent .308 cartridge casings, camouflage face paint, military gear and “various information concerning foreign embassy’s,” the affidavit aid. They also found Frein’s driver’s license and Social Security card.
A survivalist by hobby
Frein, 31, is a survivalist by hobby who lives in Monroe County, authorities said. Noonan said anyone who might know something about Frein or spot him should contact authorities right away.
But a friend of the suspect described Frein as “a pretty rational guy.”
“He’s intelligent. When people say that he’s a survivalist, there’s almost somewhat of a negative connotation to that,” the friend, who wanted to be identified only as “Jack,” told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
“He definitely let his opinions about the government be known,” Jack said.
“He was obviously a big critic of the federal government, but he never specifically targeted police when he was talking to me. No indications of really any malice towards law enforcement in particular. Most of his aggression was (toward) the federal government.”
Frein’s father told authorities that two firearms were missing from the family’s house, including an AK-47 and a rifle.
The father said his son grew up with guns and was a member of his high school’s rifle club. When Frein shoots, his father told authorities, he “doesn’t miss.”
Troopers, town hurting: ‘Everybody feels it’
As Pennsylvania state troopers hunt for Frein; they are mourning one of their own.
About a dozen of their vehicles, lights flashing, passed through Dickson’s hometown of Dunmore en route to his funeral Wednesday at Marywood University in adjacent Scranton.
Jim Williams told CNN affiliate WNEP that he was happy to give coffee and lunch to some state troopers that came into his Dunmore business, Varsity Pit Stop. But he understands they’ll need much more to cope with their loss.
“What they’re going through now, it’s terrible,” Williams said.
Many people in the borough of 14,000 people are hurting, too.
“It’s a small town. Everybody knows everybody,” Dunmore resident Mike Brazil told WNEP. “And it’s hard … Everybody feels it.”
CNN’s Ray Sanchez, Jason Carroll, Ashley Fantz, Catherine E. Shoichet, Marlena Baldacci and Mayra Cuevas contributed to this report
