2 troopers shot pursuing bank robbery suspect from Murrysville

NEWVILLE, Pa. — State police said two troopers were injured by gunfire while pursuing a bank robbery suspect who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his crashed vehicle.

State police said 37-year-old Dakin Burgess, of Murrysville, robbed a bank in Chambersburg, in Franklin County, at about 5 p.m. Monday and fled in a black minivan.

Trooper Robert Hicks, a state police spokesman, said one trooper was shot in the foot while trying to stop the vehicle soon after the robbery.

Police then lost sight of the vehicle until it was spotted by air units, and a second trooper was shot in the shoulder before the minivan was found crashed into a tree near Newville, in Cumberland County.

Investigators said Burgess was willing to go to any length to get away.

“Whether that was going to be take the life of anybody, including armed troopers, police officers and sheriffs, he was going to do it,” Pennsylvania State Police Capt. Steve Junkin said.

Prosecutors told Channel 11’s Joe Holden that Burgess acted out his own version of the graphic and violent video game Grand Theft Auto.

“You could use motivated, fixated, but he had a clear desire to get away and to do anything he could to do that,” Junkin said.

Hicks said both troopers are doing well and are in good spirits in a hospital.

WPXI