Dave Hromada Jr., German Township police chief, was in the administrative office at Masontown’s magistrate’s office when Patrick Dowdell opened fire.

“I heard gunshots first,” said Hromada, who was waiting for the start of preliminary hearings along with other officers.

“Most of us were already there in the building because we had court with the defendants that were present in the waiting room,” Hromada said. Because of this, Hromada said, a large number of his officers and Masontown’s officers were in the building when it transpired.

As soon as Hromada registered, he was hearing gunshots.

He exited the building through one of the  side doors and looped around to the front of the building where Dowdell had shot out one of the doors.

“When it started, I was in the administrative office of the magistrate’s office,” Hromada said. “Then, I exited the building out the side door and looped around to where the assailant had went into the building and then me and another officer entered the building at the front doors.”

Through the chaos of the shooting, Hromada said he reacted in a manner he was trained for.

“At that point your thoughts are basically just to get everybody out of the building and try and get to the person causing the threat and stop it,” Hromada said. “I guess you just go back into training mode.”

After Hromada said he and another officer entered the building through the front door, Dowdell was shot and killed by an officer whose name hasn’t been released.

In the shooting, four people were injured, including a Masontown police sergeant. Hromada said none of the injuries were life threatening.

“None of the injuries they sustained were life threatening,” Hromada said. “Two of them were hit in the arm, one was hit in the leg and then the sergeant got hit in the hand and wrist area.”

The shooting occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19. Hromada said Dowdell had been in the vicinity for a period of time before opening fire.

“I don’t know what time he had arrived,” Hromada said. “He had actually been sitting out in his vehicle – that was what his attorney had asked him to do. So, he had been sitting outside for a while.”

Hromada said the motive of Dowdell is known, but was unable to give further information. The Herald-Standard cited court records Aug. 27, which stated Dowdell was accused of choking his wife before threatening to kill her.

According to Sept. 20 reporting from the Observer-Reporter, Dowdell followed his fleeing wife into the magistrate’s office while shooting at her.

Since the shooting directly involved both the Masontown and German Township, Hromada said the investigation will move into different hands.

“Obviously there are still interviews that need to take place,” Hromada said. “The district attorney is obviously ultimately running the investigation in conjunction with the state police because obviously that both involved both [German Township] and Mason Township – we can’t handle our own investigation into something like that.”

Though there have been shootings in recent history in the Masontown region, Hromada said nothing like this has happened before.

“There have been shootings, but to my knowledge not anything at the magistrates or anything of this exact nature,” Hromada said.