Retired state trooper kills two during tollbooth robbery before dying in shootout: Police

A retired Pennsylvania state trooper died Sunday morning in a shootout with police moments after he killed two others during an attempted robbery on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Authorities said Clarence Briggs, 55, shot and killed a tollbooth collector and a security contractor about 7 a.m. during an armed holdup where the turnpike empties out into Fort Littleton in south central Pennsylvania.

Mr. Briggs reportedly pulled up to a tollbooth at the exchange and forced two workers at gunpoint into a nearby building where he attempted to tie them up, state police Capt. Dave Cain said at a press conference Sunday afternoon, PennLive.com reported.

The two individuals were able to break free and approached Mr. Briggs outside, the captain said. At about the same time, Ronald Heist, a security contractor for the Turnpike Commission, arrived on the scene in a fare-collection vehicle.

Authorities believe Mr. Briggs opened fire on the vehicle, killing Mr. Heist, a 72-year-old retired police officer. One of the two men who had just escaped the nearby building, 55-year-old Danny Crouse, was fatally shot as well.

Police said Mr. Briggs then commandeered Mr. Heist’s vehicle and drove to a nearby getaway car where he began to unload the collected toll fare. Authorities arrived moments later and killed Mr. Briggs during a shootout, the police captain said.

“On behalf of my fellow Turnpike commissioners and everybody in the Pennsylvania Turnpike family, we are all deeply saddened by this horrific tragedy,” Turnpike chairman Sean Logan said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the deceased victims, the Turnpike employee, and the contractor. We cannot imagine what the families must be feeling right now. Certainly, today will be a day that none of us will soon forget.”

Turnpike officials will “expend whatever resources necessary and make sure we find out exactly what transpired this morning and to make absolutely certain that our system is secure and that our employees are protected,” Mr. Logan said.

Mr. Briggs retired in January 2012, The Associated Press reported. Federal bankruptcy records obtained by PennLive suggest Mr. Briggs had recently been employed by a Pennsylvania-based weapons company that claims online to supply arms to Israel and other foreign countries.