Montco Man Dies After Firing At Police During Barricade Situation

NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP, PA — A local man died during a fire inside his home after he had engaged police in a shootout late last week following a barricade situation during a domestic disturbance call, according to law enforcement officials.

New Hanover Township Police said that officers were dispatched to a call for a domestic incident in this western Montgomery County community just outside of Pottstown this past Friday at around 8 in the evening.

Upon arrival at the home, located on the 2000 block of Little Road in the Perkiomenville section of the township, officers were immediately fired upon by the suspect, identified as 50-year-old Robert Ray Wagner, according to police chief Kevin R. McKeon.

The officers immediately took cover and called for additional units, eventually requesting SWAT team members, who responded and evacuated the pinned down officers, McKeon wrote in a news release.

SWAT members worked throughout the night to attempt to resolve the matter peacefully, McKeon stated.

A fire ended up breaking out at the home around 6 the next morning, and after being extinguished by local fire crews, authorities were able to locate the body of Wagner inside the charred structure, police stated.

McKeon, on behalf of township supervisors, thanked local officers, Montgomery County SWAT West and Central teams, firefighters, ambulance companies, fire police and others who assisted at the scene of the incident.

"We also extend our thoughts and prayers to the family, for regardless of the situation, we lost a member of our community this morning," McKeon said in a Facebook post last Friday.

Police did not release the cause of the fire, and they did not specifically say if Wagner died as a result of the blaze or from some other cause.

Information about what may have sparked the underlying domestic situation has also not been provided by law enforcement.