Authorities: We're Closing in on Trooper Ambush Suspect

Eric Matthew Frein (Photo courtesy of the FBI)

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Authorities say they are closing in on the man suspected of murdering a Pennsylvania State Trooper and shooting a second earlier this month.

Eric Matthew Frein, 31, is suspected in the ambush shooting death of Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Byron K. Dickson, and the attempted murder of Trooper Alex T. Douglas II on Sept. 12 outside the Blooming Grove barracks in Pike County.

Search teams this weekend found an AK-47 and ammunition believed to belong to Frein, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. It was unclear whether the weapon had been abandoned or whether Frein planned to return for it, authorities said, and they did not specify where it was found.

Frein is also believed to have a .308 rifle with a scope, the FBI said.

Authorities now believe that Frein had been planning his ambush “extensively for months, and maybe years,” The Morning Call reported.

Frein last week was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

Frein was a member of a “military simulation unit,” ABC reported, whose members role-play the they are Eastern European soldiers.

Frein, 31, should be considered “armed and extremely dangerous,” the FBI said.

The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading directly to Frein’s arrest.

Frein is “a weapons enthusiast, and a survivalist,” the FBI said. “He claims to have fought with Serbians in Africa, and he has studied Russian and Serbian languages.”

Frein is 31 years old, and is described as being 6-foot-1, around 165 pounds, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said. Noonan said he should be considered extremely dangerous.

The FBI says Frein may have shaved his head on both sides, with long hair on the top. When he was last seen, he had no facial hair, and was wearing a brown-and-gold windbreaker, khaki shorts and sneakers. Frein is known to be a heavy smoker, the FBI said.

Frein has ties to Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, the FBI said, though authorities have focused their search on the border of Monroe and Pike counties.

Anyone with any information about Frein should contact their local FBI office.