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State Police Investigating Homicide, Suicide

LYCOMING COUNTY — Troopers said Edward White Sr., 77, of Williamsport was found shot to death and dumped on a road in Montoursville overnight. Then Sunday...

LYCOMING COUNTY -- Troopers said Edward White Sr., 77, of Williamsport was found shot to death and dumped on a road in Montoursville overnight.

Then Sunday morning, police were chasing a woman near Williamsport when she committed suicide and then crashed.

State police said the driver in the pursuit shot herself and died before crashing into a Schneider Valley Farms building along East Third Street near Williamsport.

"They went past our house, there were four cops flying by our house, state troopers," said Mellodee Steele who witnessed the ordeal.

City police were pursuing the 28-year-old Williamsport woman after stopping her for a parole violation, they said.

Witnesses said the chase left the downtown area and ended up in a busy shopping area known as the Golden Strip.

"There was six I counted. And then there was three more and I thought, I didn't know our city had that many police cars," said Edgar Miller of Loyalsock Township.

Crowds of shoppers gathered and watched, trying to figure out what had happened.

"I can't imagine that it would be that bad that they would shoot themselves. Too bad, that is all I can say," said Sally Weigand of Williamsport.

Investigators are now trying to determine if the suicide is connected to a homicide discovered earlier Sunday on Fairview Drive in Montoursville.

Just before 1 a.m., police were called to what had originally been reported as a hit and run.

Upon closer inspection, police discovered that the victim had actually been shot, and the body dumped on Fairview Drive. The victim was later identified as White.

Fairview Drive is a pretty busy road, so when neighbors saw it shut down and police investigating a death, they thought it was a hit and run.

When Jack Persun woke up, his neighborhood was still blocked off.

"It is definitely nuts, you know, it really is, it is a few feet from the house, you know," said Persun.

Now people in various Lycoming County communities are trying to make sense of one of the most bizarre days anyone can remember.

White and the deceased woman are not related, according to investigators.

Police said they do have leads in the homicide, but would not say if the suicide victim is a suspect.

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