6 family members presumed dead after East Lansdowne shooting and fire; 1 wounded officer released from hospital

After hours of sifting through the charred remains of an East Lansdowne home on Thursday, investigators retrieved three sets of human remains and a rifle — the beginnings of their painstaking search for evidence as they worked to piece together what led a resident of the home to shoot two police officers before setting the house ablaze the day before.

It was difficult, “gruesome” work, according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer. And frustratingly, he said, the full scope of what happened inside the ruined home on Wednesday afternoon may never be fully understood.

The excavation work at the fire scene on Thursday was hampered by still-smoldering hot spots and several feet of water that pooled in the basement. The flames that engulfed the house destroyed important evidence, authorities said, and in the coming days, investigators may need to rely on dental records and other forensic testing to fully identify victims.

Investigators working to sift through the remains of the Le family’s home on Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne withdrew three sets of human remains by late Thursday.

A human torso and rifle were retrieved from the home earlier in the day, according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer. Delaware County Medical Examiner staff pulled out two stretchers from the Lewis Ave. home at approximately 4 p.m. as workers continued to dig through charred debris in search of three adults and three children who remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

Stollsteimer said during an afternoon media briefing that six members of the family who lived in that home were unaccounted for and presumed dead.

Law enforcement sources said that members of the Le family identified the alleged shooter who fired at police at a home in East Lansdowne as Canh Le, 43.

Le lived at the home with his parents, his younger brother, Xuong Le, 40; Xuong’s wife, Britni McLaughlin Le, 37; and the couple’s three young children.

Le’s father, Huong, made the initial 911 call to police after his older son reportedly shot one of Xuong Le’s daughters, the source said. He then ran to safety with his wife as police arrived to investigate.

Officials said they still don’t know who called police or shot officers from the house on Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne that ultimately caught fire.

It remains unclear how the fire started or exactly how many people might have been killed, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said. He said at least six members of the Le family who were living in the house — three adults and three children — remain unaccounted for and presumed dead.

Stollsteimer said due to the fire and the condition of the remains, officials might have to turn to dental records to officially identify the victims. Stollsteimer also said they may never be able to officially identify the shooter.

During a Thursday afternoon press conference, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer identified the family living in the house on Lewis Ave in East Lansdowne as the Le family.

Behind Stollsteimer, around 12 police vehicles, some with lights flashing, buttressed the Presbyterian Medical Center main doors where Officer David Schiazza was expected to exit within the hour. 

Among those departments present were officers from East Lansdowne, Marple, Delaware County parks, Darby Township, Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Law enforcement said six members of the Le family, who lived at the East Lansdowne home where two police officers were shot before the home went up in flames, remain unaccounted for and likely perished in the fire.

"Everyone who was inside the house during the fire is presumed dead at this point," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Thursday afternoon.

Stollsteimer said three children and three adults remain unaccounted for. He said law enforcement recovered a badly-burned torso and a rifle inside the house, and officials continued to sort through the debris to recover any additional remains.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Thursday commended first responders at the scene in East Lansdowne, where two veteran officers were wounded before the home burst into flames. Multiple people remain unaccounted for after the fire.

“I’m thankful for every first responder who ran towards danger yesterday evening, including both officers who were wounded in the line of duty,” Shapiro wrote on social media. “The Lansdowne, East Lansdowne, and Upper Darby communities and first responders who worked to save all they could are in Lori and I’s prayers.”

Officer John Meehan, 54, of the East Lansdowne Police Department, was shot in the leg, and was expected to be released from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Thursday afternoon. Lansdowne Police Officer John Meehan, 44, was shot in the arm and was expected to be released later, after undergoing surgery.

The officers wounded Wednesday afternoon outside of a home in East Lansdowne were identified Thursday as Officer David Schiazza, 54, of the Lansdowne Police Department, and Officer John Meehan, 44, of the East Lansdowne Police Department.

Both are 22-year veterans of their respective departments and were recovering from their injuries Thursday, according to officials.

Meehan, who was shot in the leg, was expected to be released from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center on Thursday afternoon. Schiazza, who was shot in his left arm, was awaiting surgery and will be released later.

The person who called 911 to a home on Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne Wednesday was likely the same man who shot at officers when they came to investigate his report that a child had been shot inside, law enforcement sources said Thursday.

That gunman, whose identity was still unclear to law enforcement, is also believed to have started the fire in the home’s third-floor attic that later destroyed it, according to a source with first-hand knowledge of the investigation who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Police were working Thursday to sift through the evidence at the burned-out hollow of that home, where, sources said, two different families — adults and their children — lived. The families were related to each other.

Officials at the William Penn School District said Thursday that counselors are available for all students and faculty amid the ongoing investigation into the police shooting and fire on Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne.

Neighbors had expressed concern Wednesday evening into early Thursday about whether school would still be held at East Lansdowne Elementary, which is within walking distance of the smoldering ruin of the home where two police officers were shot.

And though early reports indicated that the officers were summoned to that home about 4 p.m. Wednesday for an 11-year-old who had been shot, officials would not comment on whether any children at that home attended schools in the district.

The two police officers shot and wounded Wednesday while responding to reports a girl had been shot are “doing very well,” according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.

One officer was shot in the forearm, while the other suffered a wound in his leg, Stollsteimer said during an interview on Fox 29 Thursday morning. Both were still in the hospital but are expected to be released soon.

The officers have yet to be publicly identified. One was from the East Lansdowne department and the other from Lansdowne. When they arrived at the scene on Lewis Avenue on Wednesday, they were shot at by a gunman inside the home, which later caught on fire.

Multiple people — including children and adults — living in the East Landsdowne home ravaged by a fire remained unaccounted for Wednesday evening as the blaze continued to smolder and the scene remained too dangerous for investigators to enter, Delaware District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said.

“We are aware that there are at least six to eight people who are unaccounted for from that family,” he said. “It is our terrible fear that they may be inside that house when it was burned. We are hopeful that that is not true, but we will not know until tomorrow morning.”

Police responded to a report of an 11-year-old who had been shot at the home Wednesday afternoon, but were quickly met with gunfire coming from inside the house, officials said. Two police officers were shot. A fire then engulfed the multiple-story house, but fire crews were delayed in combatting the growing inferno by tactical crews working to clear the scene.

Two police officers were shot Wednesday afternoon in East Lansdowne while responding to reports that an 11-year-old girl had been shot inside a home that later burst into flames.

And later Wednesday, as investigators struggled to piece together what led to the shooting, they said that as many as eight members of the family that lived inside the home — children and adults — were unaccounted for.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the home was still smoldering Wednesday night, preventing investigators from sifting through the ruins. On Thursday, he said, fire officials and others would begin excavation work in search of evidence.