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LINDEN -- Two men are dead, a Williamsport police officer is recovering from gunshot wounds and police are looking for another man following a shooting and chase Tuesday.
It started in the evening at a home at 2225 West Third Street in Williamsport's West End, where city police responded and found Shawn Graham, 33, dead of gunshot wounds.
But upon arriving there, police said an officer saw a white Dodge Charger with a New Jersey license plate leaving so he followed it.
The officer attempted to pull the driver over a few blocks away on West Third Street, ordering the driver out of the car.
However, police said the suspect -- later identified as Paul Heath, 27 -- opened fire and hit the officer in the arm.
A chase ensued and ended at the Sheetz along heavily traveled Route 220 at Pine Run Road, west of Williamsport, just after dusk Tuesday.
Police said Heath took his own life as officers closed in.
What's more, authorities as of yesterday were still looking for another person in the homicide on West Third Street.
The officer, Nicholas Carrita, 24, a Williamsport area native, was hospitalized at Williamsport Regional Medical Center, but Williamsport Police Chief David Young said he could be discharged at any time.
Carrita was nearing the house on West Third Street when he spotted a car that matched the description of a vehicle a dispatcher reported as possibly involved in the shooting, Young said. There was a brief pursuit before the driver pulled over in the 1500 block of West Third Street, Young said.
"The officer ordered the man out at gunpoint. The driver originally would not comply. Shortly thereafter, the suspect exited the vehicle and began shooting at the officer," Young said. "The officer was hit and took cover. He called it in, and then the vehicle fled. I don't know how many shots were fired. The officer was struck one time."
At Sheetz, where the chase ended, at least a dozen customers were inside or near the pumps when Heath -- who had been pursued for several miles on the four-lane highway -- jumped out of his car and exchanged gunfire with numerous state troopers.
No employees or customers at the business were injured.
"The police chase ended here. A guy got out of a car and started firing shots at the cops," one witness, who did not give his name, told a Williamsport Sun-Gazette reporter at the convenience market as it still was swarming with numerous officers. "The cops returned fire. I didn't see how it ended. I was ducking down in my truck," the 47-year-old witness said, adding he had pulled into Sheetz to buy a pack of cigarettes just moments before the gunfight broke out.
"I heard the sirens, saw the cops coming down the highway. I think I heard seven or eight shots total," said the witness. "The cops had blocked his vehicle on the highway and he pulled into here. I was ducking. I didn't see everything. The driver was firing off two or three rounds when he first got out of the car."
As for the second suspect, city and state police said they're conducting a joint investigation to find the person.