A white Bedford County man shot into a crowd of about 50 peaceful civil rights marchers who were crossing through Pennsylvania during a pilgrimage from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C. last night, injuring one in the face.
The group of marchers was traveling on Lincoln Highway about to climb a hill when an elderly white man appeared from behind them and started shooting at the group, according to Tory Lowe, a marcher who posted a Facebook Live video of the event.
“We were about to start walking toward the hill; there was an incline coming up and we had parked to organize everybody,” Lowe said. “I don’t know, he came from almost a block away shooting. We didn’t even see it coming.”
A screenshot of the shooting posted on Facebook shows two men in front of a red and white truck, and one is holding a rifle. One marcher — a man known as Cino — was shot in the face, according to Lowe. Officials at Conemaugh Nason Medical Center near Bedford said he was in stable condition.
According to the marchers, after the man shot his gun off into the crowd, Lowe said he yelled at the shooter that a minister was with him. Lowe said the shooter then put down his gun, started talking about Jesus, and then tried to shake Lowe’s and the minister’s hands.
“After that, he acted like nothing ever happened,” Lowe said. “He just got to talking about us and shaking our hands and ‘God Bless You.’”
Pennsylvania State Police have not released the name of the man who shot at the protesters, but a press release published on Twitter this morning from the barracks that oversees Schellsburg said that two men were being questioned.
