(NEW YORK) — At least six to eight people are still unaccounted for after a massive housefire engulfed a Pennsylvania residence where authorities were responding to an emergency call, officials said Wednesday.
While responding to the home Wednesday afternoon, officers were “immediately met by gunfire,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told reporters during a press briefing Wednesday.
During the incident, the house became engulfed in flames while shots were still being fired from the home, Stollsteimer said.
There is a family that lives in the home, including children, according to authorities.
Police will search for bodies and evidence Thursday morning since the house was still burning Wednesday evening, Stollsteimer said.
The two male officers, who were with the East Lansdowne and Lansdowne police departments, each sustained a single gunshot wound, Stollsteimer said. They were pulled from the scene to safety by responding officers from the Upper Darby Police Department, he said.
The injured officers are in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Stollsteimer.
A 911 caller reported that an 11-year-old girl had been shot at the residence in East Lansdowne, according to Stollsteimer.
Authorities have been unable to enter the residence to determine if the shooter is still alive or if there were any other occupants, Stollsteimer said. It is also unclear if an 11-year-old had been shot, he said.
“We are still actively investigating the scene,” Stollsteimer said.
No shots had been fired since and the fire has “largely burned out the house,” Stollsteimer told ABC Philadelphia station WPVI-TV.
A neighbor, John White, told reporters at the scene he heard gunfire and sometime later, “13 or 15 more shots.” He said he “got low” during the incident, and SWAT members later evacuated him from his home.
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