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Police vehicles crash into Dunmore business during chase

The business in Dunmore was heavily damaged by the crash.

DUNMORE, Pa. — Two police vehicles crashed into a business in Dunmore after a pursuit of suspects in a gunfire incident.

It all happened in less than a half-hour -- a shooting, followed by a high-speed chase, ending with a crash in Dunmore around 10:30 a.m.

A state police SUV and a Scranton police truck crashed into each other and then into the front of a barbershop on Drinker Street in Dunmore while pursuing a suspect in a gunfire incident.

"Total chaos here earlier. The helicopters were flying around, there were cops from all over here, firetrucks," said James Bordo, the building's owner.

Scranton police tell Newswatch 16 it started at Skyview Park Apartments on Gibbons Street in south Scranton.

"There was a fight there reported which ended in some shots fired. The vehicle fled the scene and one of our plainclothes detectives spotted the vehicle and ended up engaging in a pursuit," explained Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano.

State troopers and police from several departments joined in the chase.

A state police helicopter searched for the vehicle from the sky.

The chase took police to Dunmore

A few minutes after the crash, police located what they believe to be the suspects' vehicle unoccupied on Monroe Avenue.

Two handguns were then found near the scene of the crash - one in an office parking lot on Drinker Street and another behind Rum Runners Bar. We saw detectives taking pictures of one of the weapons and marking the area for evidence.

The chaos of the morning rattled the owners and tenants of the building that houses the barbershop.

James Bordo and his father have owned this building for almost 30 years.

"It's amazing," Bordo said. "Good thing the barbershop was closed or somebody could've gotten killed in there."

One of Bordo's tenants, Jesse Wells, had just left his apartment above the barbershop when he heard the crash from behind him.

"I was walking up the street here and I had my headphones in and everything and then this loud bang and I turned around and saw the cop. He was a big-time hero. He was trying to push the door open. He finally got it open, and he went right around and opened the other door and pulled his cop buddy right out. It was pretty amazing. It was neat to see," Wells said.

Police believe there were four people inside the car. Two females were stopped on Madison Avenue near the scene of the crash and are being interviewed by Scranton Police. Police are still looking for two male suspects.

If you have information on the case, you're asked to call Scranton police.

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