Renovo man in custody after Ninth Street “shooter” incident Tuesday morning; standoff over
RENOVO, PA – A resident of Sullivan Acres, a public housing unit at Ninth
Street and Ontario Avenue in Renovo, is in custody after an active shooter situation around 8 a.m. Tuesday. He has been identified as Gene Eaton, 45.
State police later Tuesday morning issued a release on the apprehension and said “the stand-off situation has ended”
Their release said the incident started around 7:50 a.m. when multiple state and local police units resonded to Renovo for reports of a man “firing a handgun in the street.” Police said at approximately 8:30 a.m., the man was taken into custody and no one was injured during the incident.
Police said the standoff situation had ended and the investigation remains ongoing. The state police report did not identify Eaton by name, but therecord-online confirmed Eaton’s identity, his nickname, “Mad Dog.”
Jeff Rich, executive director of the Clinton County Housing Authority, shared information on the Eaton man now in custody. He said the authority was in the process of having Eaton removed from his apartment “for the safety and wellbeing” of other building residents. The 10-day removal process had begun on Feb. 24, according to Rich. He said Eaton had resided there since July of 2019. It is believed he is not originally from the Renovo area.
Report of the apprehension came after Renovo police had issued an alert to Renovo area residents asking them to “shelter indoors” for an active shooter situation first reported around 8 a.m. Tuesday.
State police went to the Bucktail High School/Renovo Elementary complex in Farwell as a precaution. After the Renovo alert was resolved, Keystone Central School District Superintendent Jacquelyn Martin shared word on the district response:
Dear KCSD Staff and Community,
At approximately 8 am this morning the PA State Police (PSP) notified us of an active shooter situation in the Renovo Community. Out of an abundance of caution, KCSD used prepared safety protocols to “Lock Down” Renovo Elementary and Bucktail High School.
With limited information about the location of the shooter, we had all other KCSD schools “Secure in Place” until the location of the suspect was confirmed. This lasted for a very short period of time.
With updated information from PSP that the suspect was detained, we returned to normal operations at Renovo Elementary and Bucktail High School at approximately 8:40 a.m.
I would like to commend our faculty and staff for their quick and appropriate responses to this situation. The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority.
Dr. Jacquelyn Martin
