Lock Haven Suicide Victim Had Been Sought on Williamsport Murder Charge
WILLIAMSPORT – It turns out the a Lock Haven man who took his own life on Thursday morning had been wanted in connection with a Wednesday evening murder in Williamsport.
The 12-hour incident included a fistfight, a shooting death, a police standoff and a suicide. Authorities said it ended with the self-inflicted death of the alleged murderer, Thomas Matthews III, 32, of Lock Haven.
Police from Williamsport were seeking Matthews in the murder of Kerry Dewayne Young, 37, of Williamsport.
According to a police affidavit, witnesses said Matthews and Young had been engaged in a fistfight inside the River Valley Health Center on Williamsport’s Hepburn Street around 7 p.m. Wednesday. A security guard said he saw Matthews leave the building and remove something from under the seat of a Mercedes sedan.
Police said both men drove off, Matthews in the company of his girlfriend, Hayle Bacon, 24, of Lock Haven.
The police affidavit said Matthews left his car at West Fourth and Elmira Streets in Williamsport and fired bullets from a .40-caliber handgun into Young’s car. The Young vehicle ran into some parked vehicles and ended up on its side, the driver extricated and taken to UPMC Williamsport Regional Medical Center where he died at 9:53 p.m.
Matthews meanwhile drove to Lock Haven with his girlfriend and left his Mercedes near his home on Bald Eagle Street. Lamar state police were notified of the Williamsport events shortly before 8 p.m. Bald Eagle Street was cordoned off and police waited outside before entering the residence after obtaining a search warrant; Matthews was not inside so police went to the Bellefonte Avenue residence of his girlfriend and both were inside.
According to the affidavit, Bacon left the building across from Triangle Park about 7:45 a.m. Thursday and Matthews took his own life shortly thereafter. Autopsies on the two victims are to be conducted on Friday. Authorities gave no motive for the fistfight that triggered the 13-hour saga but said drugs were not involved.
