At least 6 people are unaccounted for after house set on fire during shooting incident near Philadelphia, official says

Originally Published: 07 FEB 24 16:39 ET Updated: 08 FEB 24 10:09 ET By John Miller, Christina Maxouris and Danny Freeman, CNN

(CNN) — At least six members of a Philadelphia-area family remain unaccounted for Thursday after officers responding the prior afternoon to a report a child had been shot at their home were struck by gunfire and the home set ablaze, a district attorney said.

Authorities “have reason to believe” a relative who shot at the officers from the East Lansdowne home is among as many as eight people unaccounted for, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said in a Wednesday news conference and an interview with CNN affiliate KYW-TV.

“It is our terrible fear that they may (have been) inside that house when it was burned,” he said at the news conference.

Officers more than four hours after the 911 call still couldn’t enter the home as fire crews worked to subdue the flames.

“We don’t know who was in the house, we don’t know who the shooter was, we don’t know how many people are in there, we don’t know their status, we don’t know if they’re alive,” the prosecutor told reporters.

Detectives planned to methodically go through the scene Thursday morning and “look for bodies and look for evidence of what actually happened,” Stollsteimer said, adding: “We intend to hold everyone accountable.”

Authorities also were working to nail down “whether or not an 11-year-old girl was or was not shot,” as well as who shot the officers, he said Wednesday. Also among lingering questions is how and when the fire started – and who started it.

A chaotic scene unfolded in and around the home Wednesday as raging flames swallowed most of the structure, leaving nothing but a charred shell that released massive black smoke plumes, footage from CNN affiliate WPVI shows.

With the fire still raging, an armored vehicle at one point rammed the house, WPVI footage shows.

“I heard a lot of gunshots … and I just (saw) cops running from everywhere,” one neighbor told WPVI, adding they heard authorities yelling about an “active shooter.”

A multi-generational family had lived in the house for at least five years, a neighbor told CNN.

Responding officers ‘met by gunfire’

Earlier Wednesday, a person had been barricaded in the house, a Delaware County law enforcement source told CNN.

Authorities then got a 911 call just before 3:50 p.m. Wednesday reporting “an 11-year-old girl had been shot” at the home in a borough a few miles west of downtown Philadelphia, Stollsteimer said at the news conference.

Someone claiming to be a child apparently called police and said they had been shot, another source briefed on the situation told CNN, adding it was unclear whether a child had actually been shot.

Officers from three agencies responded and were “immediately met by gunfire,” Stollsteimer said. Two officers from different agencies were struck and “dragged out of danger” by colleagues, he said.

Both suffered “not life-threatening injuries,” were taken to a Philadelphia hospital and in stable condition, he said.

After officers responded, the house was set ablaze, Stollsteimer said. The block was emptied of people and the fire brought mostly under control, though it still remained smoldered Wednesday night, Stollsteimer said at that time.

“There’s nobody else in danger,” he said. “We’re not going to make entry into that house until we know that the fire’s under control and that it’s safe for those officers to go in there … We don’t want another single officer hurt tonight in Delaware County.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Amy Simonson and Yan Kaner contributed to this report.

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