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Deadly Shooting Leads to Standoff in Shamokin

SHAMOKIN — A deadly shooting led to a standoff overnight in Northumberland County. Now the suspect is in the hospital. A woman was shot and killed late Mo...

SHAMOKIN -- A deadly shooting led to a standoff overnight in Northumberland County. Now the suspect is in the hospital.

A woman was shot and killed late Monday night in Shamokin. Her suspected killer was shot by police after an hours-long standoff and he was holding a hostage during that standoff.

Police were on West Sunbury Street for hours Tuesday morning, trying to get Jose Colon, 41, to come out of his apartment.

Information from search warrants Tuesday morning in this case indicates that Colon even held his roommate hostage inside the building for two hours.

District Judge John Gembic issued the warrants at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. According to the warrants, Colon is charged with making terroristic threats, false imprisonment, and possessing instruments of crime.

Police say Colon threatened to shoot his roommate and only told that roommate that he did something stupid. Police also said Colon threatened another man in Shamokin, telling him he would shoot him next.

Police eventually shot Colon. He was taken to the hospital.

Police tried for hours to get that suspect to come out. One of the suspect's friends was there all night to watch.

"I knew he was a good dude. He was a good guy. I don't care what anybody says. He loved his family and stuff like that."

Police were called to North Rock Street around 8:30 p.m. Monday. They found a woman shot to death.

Police tracked the suspect back to West Sunbury Street.

The entire neighborhood was on lockdown. No one was allowed in or out, and that included Matthew Long, who lives just a few doors away from the standoff site.

"It's scary," said Long. "I have a 14-year-old kid and a 5-year-old kid. I mean, this world is starting to get scarier and scarier."

As the situation unfolded on West Sunbury Street, there was also plenty of activity at Independence and Market, right in the middle of downtown Shamokin.

This part of the city became an armed camp, a staging area for about 100 heavily armed police, plus ambulances, and armored vehicles.

Finally, around 5:30 a.m., shots rang out. Police say they exchanged gunfire with the homicide suspect. He was hit. Police weren't.

Police kept the streets around the apartment closed, as they finished up work on the standoff, and looked for information on the deadly shooting that started a long night and morning for police and people in this part of the city.

Elizabeth Grace Hull lives across the street from where the young woman was killed. It scared her.

"I heard an argument with two people out there," she recalled. "What if they were shooting on the other side and I sit where my chair is and the bullet comes through my window and kills me?"

Investigators have not yet released the name of the woman Jose Colon is accused of killing or Colon's condition.

Schools in the area were on a two-hour delay due to the standoff.

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