COALDALE, Pa. — Police chased a man wanted for murder across county lines on Friday, leading to a standoff at a Schuylkill County home all afternoon.
The standoff happened at a home on Fisher Avenue in Coaldale.
Police surrounded the house after a high-speed chase through Carbon and Schuylkill Counties.
Police say they were after a man wanted for allegedly killing his girlfriend.
Allentown Police were investigating a murder in the Lehigh Valley Friday morning. They say a man named Richard Sweet has been charged with killing his girlfriend, Joan Cressman, reportedly shooting her in the head.
Sweet fled after he was spotted by a neighbor, leading to a long pursuit involving several local agencies and state police.
Troopers say after the chase the suspect barricaded himself inside the home on Fisher Avenue in Coaldale for several hours.
A state police Special Response Team was seen removing a dark-colored car from the scene that matched the description of Sweet's vehicle.
Neighbors watched as police surrounded the house in Coaldale.
"I was upstairs taking a shower and I look outside in the window and I see this cop out there. So I go outside, go on the front porch, observe what's going on," said Jake Lopata.
State police say the suspect barricaded themselves inside the house.
Lopata snapped a photo of an officer walking near that home, gun drawn. We spotted officers carrying rifles. The view down Fisher Avenue showed cruisers lining the roadway.
Lopata says one of his friends lives on this street, right next to the house in question.
"I talked to him. He was saying that he went outside on the front porch and the cops told him to pretty much go on your basement and don't go outside, just avoid outside at all."
Coaldale resident John Russell got a call that his daughter's school, Panther Valley Junior-Senior High School, was in lockdown.
"The alleyway that they have the suspect pinned up in, in the house, I walk down through with my daughter to take home from school and to take to school," Russell said.
Neighbors were shocked to see it all happen in their town.
"Things happen everywhere, that's how I take it. It's just how often does it happen and it's not every day," Russell said.
"Small town, surprising, stuff like this usually doesn't happen around here," Lopata added. "Yeah, it's weird, scary."
The standoff ended around 4 p.m. and an ambulance was seen leaving the scene. There is no word if Sweet is in custody.