(6:40 a.m. Update) Breaking News: In Execution-Style Bloodbath, Kids 2 & 5 Dead from Head Shots, a Man Gut-Shot 3X, Multiple Add’l Vics, Shooters

Still at Large, in Montgomery CO, PA, Late Tonight
Last updated at 4:20 a.m., on Sunday, July 3, 2011.
Last updated at 6:40 a.m., on Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Update: 3:01 a.m.: Patch’s David Powell just responded to me:

Nicholas, we're still piecing everything together. We have tentatively identified some of the individuals involved in this incident but it may be some time before we're prepared to publish that information. Police at the scene have corralled media personnel on the grounds of a nearby church.

Original post: The five-year-old was a boy; there’s been no report what the sex of the two-year-old was. The man who was gut-shot was found nearby in the woods, and initially declared “in custody,” but apparently is now considered a victim. There’s no word yet on the victims’ identities or, excepting the two young children, their conditions. Police got called just before 11 p.m. The crime scene is at 50 Renninger Road in Gilbertsville. A county SWAT team, part of a 40-officer complement from seven different municipal, county, and state departments, which sounds like a fugitive apprehension team, has been searching the woods for the shooter and possible additional victims.

The house is owned by David and Monica Shay of Brooklyn, N.Y. (One report said “Grant Street,” but I couldn’t find a “Grant Street,” as opposed to “Grant Avenue” or “Grant Square” in Brooklyn.)

It is not known, at present, whether the Shays or their children were among the victims.

The news came off of police dispatcher reports from a police scanner, which a 911 supervisor said he could not confirm.

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Reports: Two children dead in Montco shootings
Posted at 11:59 p.m., on Saturday, July 2, 2011
Philly.com

Officers from at least seven police departments were converging late Saturday night on an upper Montgomery County address where multiple shootings were reported.

According to some police-radio dispatches, a 5-year-old child and a 2-year-old suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the head, and an additional victim had been found in nearby woods with three stomach wounds. The shootings were reported just before 11 p.m. on Renninger Road in the Gilbertsville area of Douglass Township.

The reports, which a county 911 supervisor said he could not confirm, said that there were additional victims, and that a SWAT team had not yet located the shooter.

- Larry King

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Five-year-old Boy Reported Dead in Multiple Shooting

Police are searching a wooded area in Douglass Township for a suspect and possible additional victims. A two-year-old has been rushed to Pottstown Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.

By David Powell and Tony Di Domizio
Limerick-Royersford-Spring City Patch
July 2, 2011

A five-year-old boy is dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and a two year old is headed to the trauma unit of Pottstown Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police command.

Police at this time are unable to locate the shooter.

There are multiple other victims reported on the scene.

The incident occurred at 50 Renninger Road in Gilbertsville, according to reports.

County SWAT teams and Pennsylvania State Police have rushed to the scene, according to reports.

Update 11:51pm: Police are canvassing a wooded area near Hoffmansville Road & Renninger Road in Douglass Township looking for a potentially armed suspect.

Montgomery County Land Records state the Douglass Township property is owned by Paul and Monica Shay of Grant Street in Brooklyn, NY.

County records indicate the property is a duplex. A building was reconstructed in 2006 following a fire, according to county records.

Update 12:00am: Unconfirmed reports indicate that police are walking a male subject with multiple gunshot wounds out of the wooded area. His connection to this incident is not immediately clear. Patch is en route to the scene.

Update 12:05am: A male with multiple gunshot wounds has been identified by police at the scene as "in custody." Police are having difficulty extracting the reportedly large man from a wooded area.

Update 12:24am: Reports from the scene indicate the large man previously identified as "in custody" has sustained two small caliber gunshots to the back and one to the face. It is not clear whether he may be the shooter.

Update 1:07am: Police are describing the scene as not yet secured. Rescue/EMS units are still trying to gain access to a wooded area bordered by Hoffmansville Road, Renninger Road, and Oberholtzer Road in Douglass Township.

Update 1:46am: Police have told assembled media that they're not providing any information on "an ongoing investigation." About 40 officers from various police departments are on scene.

Update 1:57am: Vehicles from Limerick Township Police, Lower Frederick Township Police, Boyertown Police, Lower Pottsgrove Police, Gilbertsville Fire & Rescue, Upper Perkiomen Valley Ambulance, Gilbertsville Fire Department, and Gilbertsville Ambulance are visible at the scene.

A stretcher and an ambulance have been waiting outside the residence at 50 Renninger Road for some time.

Update 2:20am: Police are asking a helicopter at the scene to concentrate its searchlight on an area to the north of a pond behind the residence at 50 Renninger Road. Several police officers continue to canvass this area, described as "a secondary scene."

Update 2:48am: A helicopter continues to search the area in conjunction with officers on the ground. Police at the scene seem to still be looking for an unidentified subject, possibly on foot. They have established a perimeter around an undeveloped area adjacent to a field between Hoffmansville Road and Renninger Road and are attempting to determine whether residences in the area are "clear."

Update 3:05am: A report indicated that county detectives have completed interviewing occupants of a number of residences along Hoffmansville Road. Police are seeking additional personnel to participate in patrols of the established perimeter areas.

Dennis Meitzler, a volunteer with the Boyertown Salvation Army, said he was raised in the area and used to hunt deer and small game in the section of woods where police appear to be concentrating their search. The woods are thick, Meitzler said, and include some sort of cave, rocks and "pipes."

Update 3:29am: Some emergency personnel are leaving the scene. Upper Perkiomen Ambulance and Gilbertsville Fire Company have departed.

Police are establishing a command post at the Douglass Township Municipal Building.

Update 4:03am: Police are gradually moving the search southeast on Hoffmansville Road. The Reading-based helicopter crew is preparing to return to its base to refuel before rejoining the search.

Update 4:25am: The Ches-Mont Emergency Response Team, or C.M.E.R.T., is being assembled at the Douglass Township Municipal Building. The Pottstown K9 unit is present. A group of officers were seen carrying weapons to a special vehicle. One was wearing what appeared to be camouflage intended for use in leafy wooded areas. The vehicle then departed.

All police personnel have continued to decline to answer any questions about their operations, referring all inquiries to the county district attorney's office.