Pennsylvania State Police on Sunday identified the state trooper who was killed and another who was critically injured in separate but related shootings Saturday in Juniata County. Officials also identified the shooter, who died in a gunfire exchange with troopers after an hours-long manhunt.
Trooper Jacques F. Rougeau Jr., 29, was ambushed and killed by the shooter at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Walker Township, Juniata County, Lt. Col. George Bivens, state police deputy commissioner, said at a press conference on Sunday. Lt. James A. Wagner, 45, is in critical condition at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center after being shot by the same assailant earlier in the afternoon in Mifflintown.
“Our hearts and prayers are with these brave troopers and their families,” state police Commissioner Christopher Paris said. “Their dedication and service to the commonwealth and its residents will always be remembered.”
Paris and Bivens also identified the shooter as 38-year-old Brandon Stine, of Thompsontown. The investigation is ongoing and no motive has been confirmed.
At about 11 a.m. on Saturday, Stine drove a pickup truck into the parking lot of the Troop G Lewistown barracks in Mifflintown and fired multiple rounds from a long rifle at marked patrol vehicles, Paris said. State police identified Stine and immediately began a search that included a helicopter.
Wagner, who is based at the Bedford barracks and was serving in a supervisory role for the day for the multi-county Troop G, joined the search and located Stine in Mifflintown. During the encounter, Stine shot and critically injured Wagner. Witnesses used Stine’s radio to call for help and police, EMTs and citizens rendered life-saving aid. Wagner was taken to Lewistown Hospital then life-flighted to Hershey.
During the ensuing manhunt, Stine “was playing somewhat of a game of cat-and-mouse,” Bivens said.
“There were phone calls. There were attempts to try to negotiate with him,” Bivens said. “But there were phone calls from him providing a location and then he wouldn’t be there. He seemed to be setting our people up for ambush.”
Rougeau, who was stationed at the Lewistown barracks, was part of the search and was traveling on Baumgardner Drive when Stine ambushed him from the area of Swamp Road, fatally shooting the trooper through the windshield of his patrol car, according to Bivens.
Rougeau died at the scene.
Stine escaped and was flushed out of a rural residential area by troopers. He then drove into the parking lot of Harshbargers restaurant in Mifflintown, where troopers used their vehicles and engaged Stine to force him away from members of the public who were outside the business.
Troopers and Stine exchanged gunfire at the edge of the parking lot. Stine then drove across Baumgardner Drive and through a residential yard, where he got stuck against a row of trees and was killed in a shootout with troopers.
“What I witnessed, and I will tell you in my many years with the Pennsylvania State Police and many serious situations, was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed,” Bivens, who was in the helicopter during the search, said.
“Dozens and dozens” of troopers responded to the incident, according to Bivens.
“I want to stress to you that what I saw out there, with our people putting themselves in harm’s way, was an amazing thing,” he said. “They kept the residents, the customers of that store safe and did so by standing between those folks and Stine.”
Rougeau, who was married, enlisted in the state police in June 2020 and was initially assigned to Troop J, York before transferring to Troop G, Lewistown in March. He is the 104th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to die in the line of duty.
Gov. Josh Shapiro ordered all commonwealth flags to half-staff until Rougeau’s interment.
Wagner, a 21-year state police veteran, is the station commander at Troop G, Bedford. An active member of the Naval Reserve, Wagner and his wife have three sons who are each on active duty with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Paris declined to say whether Stine was known to state police before Saturday.
