BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - Police say a witness who apparently surprised a group of men stripping a car in an eastern Pennsylvania parking lot was fired upon by the fleeing suspects.
Bethlehem Township police say four men drove into the lot shortly after 2:30 a.m. Thursday in two cars, one of which had been reported stolen in Philipsburg, New Jersey about an hour earlier. Police say the men started to strip that car of its rims and parts, taking tools from another car in the lot that had been reported stolen in Allentown.
Police say the four were startled by a witness and started to flee in the other car in which they had arrived. But police say that before the car entered Nazareth Pike to flee south, one man leaned out of the window and fired four rounds at the witness. Police say the car went further south and then a passenger fired at least 13 more rounds.
Police said they are working with investigators in Lehigh County to find out whether the incident is connected to a similar crime the day after Christmas in Whitehall Township, where two shots were fired into a house after someone the attempted theft of a catalytic converter.
Sgt. Shaun Powell told lehighvalleylive.com Friday that anyone who sees such criminal activity is urged not to intervene but to call 911 instead.
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