The mother of a Pennsylvania woman who was killed in a shooting rampage in Bucks County over the weekend is calling her daughter a hero.
Police arrested 26-year-old Andre Gordon in Trenton, New Jersey, hours after authorities say Gordon went to two homes in Falls Township and fatally shot three people. The victims were identified as Karen Gordon, 52, Taylor Daniel, 25, and Kera Gordon, 13. Three other people, including a minor, were inside the home and able to hide.
According to police, Karen Gordon was the suspect's stepmother and Kera Gordon was his sister. Taylor Daniel was the mother of the suspect's two children.
In an interview with FOX 29 Philadelphia, Taylor's mother Nancy Daniel said her daughter was a "great person" who "loved those girls more than anything."
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"She did everything she could for them," Daniel told the outlet.
Nancy Daniel was one of the survivors at the home and witnessed the attack. She said Taylor was a hero who protected her two daughters from their father.
"She may have saved their lives," Daniel told FOX 29. "If she hadn’t moved them, maybe they’d be dead too. I don’t know."
Daniel described the moments leading up to her daughter's murder in horrifying detail.
She said Gordon broke down their door.
"He busted down the door and came into the hallway, and she wrangled the girls into the bedroom to try and hide them," Daniel told FOX 29.
It was then that police say Gordon shot and killed Taylor.
Daniel said she heard the shots and began hitting Gordon with an axed handle, who then bludgeoned her with his rifle. The impact caused the gun to break, Daniel told FOX 29.
Daniel survived the attack with lacerations to her face and cuts and bruises on her arms.
Falls Township Police Department Chief of Police Nelson Whitney said his department previously had minor contact with Gordon before the shooting, but "nothing that would indicate anything like this," he said in a Saturday afternoon press conference.
At around 8:52 a.m. on Saturday, officers were dispatched to investigate reports of a shooting at the unit block of Viewpoint Lane, Levittown. A preliminary investigation determined that Gordon allegedly shot and killed two individuals — his stepmother and sister — both of whom lived at the residence, according to Christopher Clark, an operations lieutenant with the Falls Township Police Department.
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Clark said that following the shooting at around 9:01 a.m., Gordon went to the unit block of Edgewood Lane, where he allegedly shot and killed another individual — Taylor — before fleeing the scene.
Approximately 12 minutes later, Gordon allegedly carjacked a victim at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Dollar General in Bristol Pike, Morrisville. He then drove to Trenton and barricaded himself inside a home, authorities said.
The carjacking victim suffered no injuries, according to police.
The stolen vehicle, a dark gray Honda CRV, was located at approximately 11:38 a.m., unoccupied, in the 100 block of Miller Street in Trenton, police said.
Gordon was found near the home where he was believed to have been barricaded, after he apparently escaped the perimeter around the home before it was set up, Steve Wilson, police director for the city of Trenton, said.
Wilson added that Gordon wasn't believed to have been armed when he was taken into custody.
Gordon is charged in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania on counts including first and second-degree murder, carjacking, aggravated assault, burglary and related offenses.
