On a Sunday morning in March 2016, the quiet of the Fort Littleton interchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike was shattered by a violent and ultimately fatal series of events. Danny Mack Crouse, a 55-year-old turnpike employee who had only been on the job for three months, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery. The incident, which occurred around 7 a.m.
on March 20, 2016, also claimed the life of a security guard, Ronald Heist, 72, and ended with the death of the suspect.
The perpetrator was identified as Clarence Briggs, a 55-year-old retired Pennsylvania State Police trooper. Briggs reportedly first tried to tie up Crouse and another turnpike employee inside an office building at the toll plaza. A struggle ensued, and Briggs fled the building. At that moment, an armored vehicle, for which Heist was a guard, arrived to collect money from the tolls. As Crouse approached the vehicle, Briggs opened fire, fatally shooting both Crouse and Heist. The Fulton County Coroner later confirmed that Crouse died from a single gunshot wound to the torso and ruled his death a homicide.
After the initial shooting, Briggs continued to fire at the armored vehicle, prompting the driver to escape on foot. He then entered the armored truck and drove it to his own nearby parked vehicle, where he began to transfer money. The first state trooper to arrive on the scene engaged in a gunfight with Briggs. Briggs was shot and killed during the exchange. His death was later ruled a justifiable homicide, as a police-fired bullet struck a major artery.
