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Iraq war vet sought in stabbing, shooting deaths of his Pennsylvania family

The wife and infant child of an Iraq war veteran suspected of fatally shooting and stabbing six family members in Pennsylvania were safe on Tuesday as the second day of a manhunt prompted lockdowns and cancellations of area schools, authorities said.
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December 16, 2014

The wife and infant child of an Iraq war veteran suspected of fatally shooting and stabbing six family members in Pennsylvania were safe on Tuesday as the second day of a manhunt prompted lockdowns and cancellations of area schools, authorities said.

The search for Bradley William Stone, 35, was focused around his hometown of Pennsburg, about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where residents were advised to stay inside with their doors locked, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told a news conference.

Armed with guns and “cutting instruments,” Stone is suspected of killing on Monday his ex-wife, her mother, grandmother, sister and two other family members, including his 14-year-old niece, in communities around Philadelphia, Ferman said.

“Our SWAT teams have been out non-stop. All of those teams are working seamlessly to try to locate this fugitive,” she said.

A 17-year-old nephew, Anthony Flick, was seriously wounded in the attacks and hospitalized in stable condition, Ferman said.

A search of Stone's home and car yielded evidence, including his cell phone from which authorities pulled a photo that they digitally altered so the public could be on the lookout for the recently shaved Stone, she said.

“I would ask people not to try to stop Mr. Stone. He is considered armed and dangerous,” Ferman said.

Safe and secure were Stone's daughters, ages 8 and 5, whom he took from his ex-wife's house and left with a neighbor on Monday, and his current wife and infant child, Ferman said.

“They are secure,” she said.

It was Pennsylvania's second recent high-profile manhunt after a seven-week chase to capture survivalist Eric Frein, 31, accused of killing a state trooper in September.

Upper Perkiomen schools in the Pennsburg area were closed on Tuesday, the district said.

Stone suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, the Bucks County Courier Times reported. He enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 2002, was deployed to Iraq and was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant in 2011, according to military spokesman Captain Dustin Pratico.

Autopsies were underway on Tuesday. A law enforcement source said some of the bodies had stab wounds, some gunshot wounds and some may have had both.

Stone and his ex-wife, Nicole, 33, filed for divorce in 2009 and continued to have a custody battle. Stone asked a court on Dec. 5 to grant him custody on an emergency basis, according to court records.

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