Fear Among Pa.'s Local Leaders After Mass Shooting at Township Meeting

By Lehigh Valley Patch Staff

A disgruntled "junk collector" whose property was condemned is the suspect in a mass shooting at the Ross Township municipal building in Monday County on Monday.

A supervisor from a neighboring township and two residents were gunned down. Two other people were injured. Alleged shooter Rockne Newell, 59, is charged with the killings and is in prison.

Now local leaders are asking what can be done to keep public meetings and municipal buildings safe.

"Sure, everyone's scared. Hopefully, it never happens here," said Salisbury Township manager Randy Soriano. "We're in the process of security upgrades here at the township building. But state law says that anyone can bring a licensed firearm into any public meeting."

Police officers don't guard Salisbury's semimonthly commissioner meetings, but the police chief usually attends.

Upper Macungie Township Supervisor Sam Ashmar sent an email to department heads Tuesday, noting that all employees need to be vigilant if a resident or visitor appears to be a threat to their safety.

"It's something you can't anticipate," Ashmar said. "I don't think that can be prevented anywhere, even with safeguards in place. It's difficult to predict who is unstable and going [to] walk into a meeting to shoot people."

Emmaus, meanwhile, is "actually in the design process of changing a number of offices in town hall, including improving security measures for employees," according to Borough Manager Shane Pepe.

"The shooting in Ross Township is truly a tragic situation,” Pepe said. "It was the first topic of conversation that employees wanted to discuss this morning when we came into the office."

Officials in Lower Macungie Township may take another look at meeting security.

"This is tragic and a stark reminder of how vulnerable municipal officials are. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims," Lower Macungie Commissioner Ryan Conrad posted on Facebook. 

Conrad wrote, "We've considered added security measures at our meetings in the past but weren't sure how necessary they were and also hated the idea of making it more cumbersome to attend our meetings given the level of apathy that already exists. We have to revisit this topic."