An Army captain from Fort Lee apparently shot dead four people, including his former wife, in a weekend killing rampage in Chesterfield County and suburban Philadelphia followed by a manhunt during which two Pennsylvania officers were injured.
The soldier later committed suicide, authorities said.
Leonard John Egland, 37, a logistics officer at the sprawling military base south of Richmond, is believed to have killed his former wife, her boyfriend and his young son at a house in Chesterfield as well as his former mother-in-law, Barbara Reuhl, 66, in Bucks County, Pa., police said Sunday.
The Virginia victims were not immediately identified.
Egland had been in the Army nearly 20 years had been deployed to Afghanistan and possibly Iraq, said Lt. Randy Horowitz of the Chesterfield Police Department.
The three people found dead by police in a house in the 13100 block of Stockleigh Drive had been shot with a handgun, said Horowitz. He declined to provide details about the weapon or the number of times the victims had been shot.
On a tip from authorities in Pennsylvania, Chesterfield police went to the house Sunday shortly before 1 a.m. to "check the welfare of anyone at the Stockleigh Drive address," a written statement said. At the time, the Richmond area was reeling from Hurricane Irene.
"They had a crime scene up there that led back to our location," said Horowitz, referring to Pennsylvania police.
Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said Reuhl is believed to have been killed Saturday night.
Police discovered Egland's body in Jamison, Pa., along with a rifle, pistol and ammunition, Sunday about 3:40 p.m., more than 10 hours after the second of Egland's two armed encounters with officers. His body was turned over to the Bucks County coroner for final identification.
Also on Saturday night, police said, Egland flashed a handgun at a nurse or orderly at St. Luke's Hospital in Quakertown, Pa., after leaving behind his daughter - who is believed to be about 6 and was with him on the frantic drive from Virginia - along with a note. The hospital worker then called police, providing a description of Egland and his vehicle.
Around midnight, the vehicle was stopped by state and local police in Doylestown Township, Pa., Egland allegedly fired shots from a semi-automatic rifle, hitting a Doylestown officer in the arm, police said. A shot shattered a windshield, spraying glass in the face of another officer.
Egland's vehicle was seen again Sunday in Warwick Township, Pa. Officers took fire, but no one was hit, police said. At that point, police warned residents to stay in their homes and mobilized two SWAT teams. "I know just from the way the phones were ringing in the police station that it was causing a great deal of anxiety among our people, and for us as well," said Mark Goldberg, Warwick Township police chief.
jschapiro@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6814
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