Slain trooper to be laid to rest
Hundreds of mourners, including law enforcement officers from around the country, are gathering in Scranton for the funeral of a state trooper amid a mood of grief and fear as a manhunt continues 40 miles away for the killer, identified as a self-taught survivalist who hates police.
Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, was gunned down late Friday outside a rural barracks in the Pocono Mountains. Another trooper was wounded in the ambush that touched off a massive manhunt for Eric Frein, 31, identified Tuesday as the suspect.
Dickson’s viewing Wednesday, in the rotunda of Scranton’s Marywood University, drew a crowd that snaked around the block, with Pennsylvania’s attorney general among the mourners. Gov. Tom Corbett plans to attend Dickson’s funeral Thursday at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton.
The Marine Corps veteran, who joined the state police in 2007 and had worked as a patrol unit supervisor in the Blooming Grove barracks since June, is survived by his wife of 10 years and two young sons.
Randy Millhouse, owner of the Promised Land Inn with his wife, put up a sign outside that said “RIP CRPL BRYON DICKSON,” one of many such public displays of honor, respect and grief for the fallen lawman.
“I was devastated because I have troopers that come in here for dinner and lunch,” Millhouse said. “I was pretty well shook up, and still am until they catch him,” he said, referring to the gunman who police believe is hiding somewhere in the dense forest.
As Dickson is laid to rest, the search for his killer will have entered its sixth day.
On Wednesday, authorities chased down several false sightings in their hunt for Frein, who had shaved his head in a wide Mohawk sometime before the shooting as “part of the mental preparation to commit this cowardly act,” Lt. Col. George Bivens said Wednesday afternoon.
