Shooting Range

A 22-year-old West Chester man shot and killed himself Monday at indoor shooting range in Delaware County, State Police said today. The victim, whose name is not being released, shot himself around 12:30 p.m. in the Targetmaster range on Wilmington-West Chester Pike in Concord Township, police said. No one else was injured. State Police released no other details.

The FBI is opening an internal investigation into the fight between Chicago Bears offensive linemen Olin Kreutz and Fred Miller at its shooting range in the Chicago area, Special Agent Richard Kolko said yesterday. Miller, who initially said the injury occurred in a fall at home, needed surgery after Kreutz broke his jaw in the altercation last week. An FBI official said several Bears were invited to take target practice. The official said the fight took place after the shooting session, during a barbecue for FBI employees and the players.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the booming sound of shotgun blasts was a daily annoyance to Ronald Watson and his neighbors in rural Nockamixon Township. "I've never been to Beirut, but sometimes you'd wonder what was going on down there," said Watson, describing the din emanating from Nockamixon State Park's Tower Road Trap Shooting Range. Watson's house on Tower Road in Ottsville, Upper Bucks County, was hit by stray shotgun shells three times, he said. Scores of residents joined Watson in complaining to park and township officials that the range was loud, unsupervised and dangerous, and open all night.

The FBI is opening an internal investigation into the fight between Chicago Bears offensive linemen Olin Kreutz and Fred Miller at the bureau's shooting range in the Chicago area, Special Agent Richard Kolko said yesterday. Miller, who initially said the injury occurred in a fall at home, needed surgery after Kreutz broke his jaw in the altercation last week. An FBI official said several Bears were invited to take target practice. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the internal investigation, said it is common for FBI field offices to invite community groups to shooting ranges.

The owner says it will be just a harmless social club, but neighbors are taking aim at a proposal to build a new outdoor firing range near their homes. John and Toni Aducat, owners of the South Jersey Shooting Club, and the club's attorney Stuart Platt appeared before the Planning Board on Aug. 20 to obtain final approval to open a gun range at Mongan's Corner, the intersection of Williamstown-New Freedom Road and Erial-New Brooklyn Road. But John Aducat requested a postponement of the board's decision to further address residents' concerns, even though he received preliminary approval and is almost guaranteed final approval, according to board officials.

Marie Welsh has been listening to the gunshots since moving to Belmont Hills in 1955. The handgun and rifle barrages that echo across this neighborhood are friendly fire. They come from a shooting range, where police train to meet state qualifications and simulate stressful situations. Still, residents of Belmont Hills and neighboring streets in Penn Valley feel as if they are under siege. For the last month, they have bombarded their township commissioner, Rocco Burdo, with scores of letters.

Looking back, there was no single moment of revelation when Zak Ebrahim realized that his father was a terrorist. Not the day in 1990 when El Sayyid Nosair took the boy to a shooting range on Long Island and let the 7-year-old fire an assault rifle. Nor months later, when Ebrahim rode to Attica, N.Y., with his mother, sister, and brother to visit his father, who was awaiting trial for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League. "My father always maintained his innocence," Ebrahim said Tuesday, softly and evenly, over coffee in a Doylestown cafe.

Conrail Police Officer Tom Bernhardt of Drexel Hill staples a bulletproof vest on a cardboard target at the shooting range at the Lower Makefield Police Department. The target is part of a weapons training program for Conrail police, who are switching from the use of revolvers to automatic weapons. Each officer must complete the course to be qualified to use automatic weapons.

If Cherry Hill police officers were to respond to a mass shooting or bombings like the situation in Boston two weeks ago, their job would not be limited to stopping the perpetrators. They would also have to save victims from bleeding to death, an emergency medical services coordinator from Cooper University Hospital told them Monday. "You're not going to wait for EMS. You're going to go in there and engage," Chris Taylor told about 20 officers at the Camden County public safety complex in Lindenwold, where they recently completed state-mandated firearms testing.

If Cherry Hill police officers were to respond to a mass shooting or bombings like the situation in Boston two weeks ago, their job would not be limited to stopping the perpetrators. They would also have to save victims from bleeding to death, an emergency medical services coordinator from Cooper University Hospital told them Monday. "You're not going to wait for EMS. You're going to go in there and engage," Chris Taylor told about 20 officers at the Camden County public safety complex in Lindenwold, where they recently completed state-mandated firearms testing.

Animal cruelty charges filed against the Philadelphia Gun Club for two live pigeon shoots in March will be withdrawn Wednesday, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said. The Bensalem club was issued five citations for allegedly failing to euthanize five pigeons that were wounded during the shoots along the Delaware River. The birds were saved by an animal rights group. The club has "acknowledged and accepted" its responsibility to humanely kill birds that have survived the pigeon shoot, District Attorney David Heckler said in a written statement.

A pigeon is released or catapulted into the air and starts to takes flight. A few yards away, a gun club member quickly aims and fires a shotgun, usually striking the bird. Some of the hundreds of pigeons released in a typical daylong shoot die instantly. But as many as 70 percent are only wounded, animal-rights activists allege, and dying birds can languish for days. The result is "an animal-rights vs. sportsmen's-rights issue," said State Rep. Mike Tobash (R., Schuylkill)

Bishop Eustace made quick work of Camden, with Taylor Hudspeth tossing in 21 points and Jackie Browne scoring 11 of her 19 in a game-opening 22-3 spree, as the host Crusaders coasted, 66-24, on Wednesday in an Olympic Conference National Division girls' basketball game. Cape-Atlantic. Marissa McCorkel extended her shooting range far from the basket, draining seven three-pointers in scoring 25 for host Lower Cape May, which built a 30-point lead and then withstood a furious rally to defeat Millville, 60-55.

Bishop Eustace made quick work of Camden, with Taylor Hudspeth tossing in 21 points and Jackie Browne scoring 11 of her 19 in a game-opening 22-3 spree, as the host Crusaders coasted, 66-24, on Wednesday in an Olympic Conference National Division girls' basketball game. Cape-Atlantic. Marissa McCorkel extended her shooting range far from the basket, draining seven three-pointers in scoring 25 for host Lower Cape May, which built a 30-point lead and then withstood a furious rally to defeat Millville, 60-55.

AN Upper Darby man killed himself with a gunshot to the head at a Delaware County shooting range on Valentine's Day, authorities said, the second suicide there in six months. According to the Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner, Isaiah James Jones, 25, shot himself in the bathroom of the Targetmaster Indoor Gun Range in Chadds Ford about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. State Police had not released any information on the incident as of last night. On Aug. 22, police said, a 22-year-old West Chester man killed himself at the gun range.

An Upper Darby man shot himself in the head at a Delaware County shooting range on Valentine's Day, authorities said, the second suicide there in six months. According to the Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner, Isaiah James Jones, 25, shot himself in the bathroom of the Targetmaster Indoor Gun Range in Chadds Ford around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Pennsylvania State Police had not released any information on the incident as of last night. On Aug. 22, police said, a 22-year-old West Chester man killed himself at the gun range.

A man was robbed of nine guns and his wallet during an armed holdup Wednesday night in Feltonville, police said. Two men in ski masks, one with a gun and the other with a knife, approached the victim about 8:20 p.m. after he parked his car on Second Street near Roosevelt Boulevard, police said. The victim told police he was returning from a shooting range. The two robbed the man of a duffel bag that contained nine guns, and a wallet containing an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

A 23-year-old roofer who was shot and wounded inside his East Frankford home in April during an armed confrontation with an off-duty police officer was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, assault on a law enforcement officer, and related offenses. Joshua Taylor was shot once in the chest on April 25 inside his living room in the 4600 block of Worth Street by Larry Shields, a 17-year veteran currently assigned to the 18th District in West Philadelphia. Witnesses told investigators that the men had been arguing over a parking space before the shooting.

A 22-year-old West Chester man shot and killed himself Monday at indoor shooting range in Delaware County, State Police said today. The victim, whose name is not being released, shot himself around 12:30 p.m. in the Targetmaster range on Wilmington-West Chester Pike in Concord Township, police said. No one else was injured. State Police released no other details.