Capt. Leonard John Egland, the Army officer believed to have killed four people in Pennsylvania and Virginia, was found dead in a wooded area on August 28, 2011 after a manhunt, MSNBC is reporting. The search for the 37-year-old officer from Fort Lee, Va. continued throughout Tropical Storm Irene’s winds and rains, and ended around 3:30 pm in the Bucks County community of Warwick Township.

Police Chief Mark Goldberg confirmed the discovery of Egland’s body in the Philadelphia suburb. The Army officer was wanted for firing at several officers, and wounding two of them. His body was found several hundred yards behind a Lukoil gas station, where authorities said he had fired a semiautomatic rifle at SWAT team members. The officers, who weren’t injured, chased Egland into the woods, but lost him as the storm hit the area.

While Egland was on the run, area residents were warned to stay indoors, as he was armed with two weapons. The manhunt “tied up departments all over Bucks County…It didn’t prevent us from responding during the storm but it certainly taxed our resources,” Goldberg said.

After Egland’s former mother-in-law was found shot to death in her Buckinham home, three Bucks County SWAT teams, state police and several police departments searched for him. Virginia authorities said he had killed his ex-wife, her boyfriend and the boyfriend’s young son earlier before returning to Pennsylvania with his own young daughter. The girl was physically unharmed, but was abandoned by Egland at St. Luke’s Hospital in Quakertown.

Goldberg said Egland had died from a gunshot wound. He’s waiting for the coroner’s report to determine if it was self-inflicted.

Written by: Karen Benardello

Leonard John Egland

By Karen Benardello

As a graduate of LIU Post with a B.F.A in Journalism, Print and Electronic, Karen Benardello serves as ShockYa's Senior Movies & Television Editor. Her duties include interviewing filmmakers and musicians, and scribing movie, television and music reviews and news articles. As a New York City-area based journalist, she's a member of the guilds, New York Film Critics Online and the Women Film Critics Circle.

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