MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. -- A state trooper was shot in the torso Tuesday afternoon during a traffic stop on the edge of Catskill Park, but his bulletproof vest saved him from serious injury, and police were still searching for the shooter Tuesday night.
Trooper Matthew Gombosi was shot once about 3 p.m. in the village of Margaretville, about 65 miles southwest of Albany, State Police said. He was treated at Margaretville Memorial Hospital and released.
The shooter drove off but abandoned the Dodge Caravan on a road in the surrounding Delaware County town of Middletown. The minivan had been stolen Monday in Canton, police said.
Police agencies across the Southern Tier were alerted to the shooting and began a manhunt.
The suspect was identified by State Police on Tuesday night as Travis D. Trim, 23, of North Lawrence.
Residents of the area were advised to lock their doors and remove keys from their vehicles. Police said the suspect is white, 5-foot-11, with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a torn red flannel shirt, jeans and had a hooded sweat shirt, troopers said.
The shooting follows a hard year for state police. Three troopers were shot, one fatally, last year by fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips before the jail escapee was captured in September. Another Trooper was gunned down by a bank robber in March near Elmira.
Also, one Trooper died last April near Syracuse after crashing his vehicle while chasing a speeding motorcyclist and another, a Marine Corps captain, was killed in August while on foot patrol in Fallujah, Iraq.
Trooper Matthew Gombosi was shot once about 3 p.m. in the village of Margaretville, about 65 miles southwest of Albany, State Police said. He was treated at Margaretville Memorial Hospital and released.
The shooter drove off but abandoned the Dodge Caravan on a road in the surrounding Delaware County town of Middletown. The minivan had been stolen Monday in Canton, police said.
Police agencies across the Southern Tier were alerted to the shooting and began a manhunt.
The suspect was identified by State Police on Tuesday night as Travis D. Trim, 23, of North Lawrence.
Residents of the area were advised to lock their doors and remove keys from their vehicles. Police said the suspect is white, 5-foot-11, with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a torn red flannel shirt, jeans and had a hooded sweat shirt, troopers said.
The shooting follows a hard year for state police. Three troopers were shot, one fatally, last year by fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips before the jail escapee was captured in September. Another Trooper was gunned down by a bank robber in March near Elmira.
Also, one Trooper died last April near Syracuse after crashing his vehicle while chasing a speeding motorcyclist and another, a Marine Corps captain, was killed in August while on foot patrol in Fallujah, Iraq.
Comment