Manhunt For Suspected Cop Killer
COOPER: Welcome back. A troubling story right now, a manhunt is on, authorities say he is out there somewhere tonight armed with a rifle, an AK-47, and a vicious hatred of police according to authorities in North Eastern Pennsylvania. They say he ambushed and shot these two state police officers late Friday night, killing Corporal Brian Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass. The guy's name is Eric Frein. He is 31 years old. This is a picture of him. He is on the run, dangerous, thought by police to be bent on killing again. That's not all they are saying about him. Tonight, we have new details from Jason Carroll.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pennsylvania State Police are piecing together a profile of a man they're calling a killer, 31-year-old Eric Frein.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This fellow is extremely dangerous.</s>CARROLL: Pennsylvania Police Commissioner Frank Noonan describes him as a man with a mean streak, who had separatist leanings, a love for guns and a hatred of law enforcement.</s>COMM. FRANK NOONAN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: His head is shaved very closely on the sides and with long hair on top. It's wider than a Mohawk. He was last seen with no facial hair and was wearing a brown and gold windbreaker, khaki shorts and sneakers carrying a dark green backpack.</s>CARROLL: They also had determined Frein belongs to a military simulation group known as an airsoft gun team. This particular group re-enacted the role of Eastern European soldiers during the cold war and simulated combat.</s>LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: In his current frame of mind, Frein now appears to have assumed that role in real life.</s>CARROLL: Investigators also say Frein was socially withdrawn and had made angry statements about police to people he knew.</s>NOONAN: That is one of the real focal points of our investigation is, why now, why Blooming Grove -- we really don't know. But we're talking to everybody that we can find that might have any information concerning that.</s>CARROLL: Investigators spent much of the day not only searching for Frein, but also interviewing his neighbors, his friends and family. (on camera): Investigators continued to come in and out of the Frein home. Also right outside here you can see there is a state patrol car keeping guard, as well. The suspect lived here with his parents. The suspect's father telling investigators that two weapons are missing from the house, an AK-47 and a rifle. (voice-over): Investigators found a book in Frein's bedroom titled "Sniper Training and Employment." His father, an Army veteran told police he trained his son to shoot and that he does not miss. These pictures from Frein's high school year book from his senior year, showing him on the school's rifle team. His quote, "I feel that we could have done a lot better in matches this year if it wasn't for the fact that in anticipation for the rifle team being cancelled." Frein's love of guns and the military continued into adulthood. He is well known for walking around the small community of Canadensis in full military uniform.</s>ELAINE, FAMILY FRIEND: He was a very serious young man. He always wore green. I always thought he was in the service.</s>CARROLL: Elaine did not want to give her last name. She runs a gardening store in town and says she has known the family for ten years.</s>ELAINE: I was devastated and it didn't surprise me, I guess.</s>CARROLL (on camera): Why didn't it surprise you?</s>ELAINE: I guess, because my children are so outgoing. You know what I mean? When my kids meet you, hello, how are you? They shake your hand. They're very outgoing. This young man was not and I do think -- but the mother is very sweet. I don't know the father.</s>CARROLL: And when you say he wasn't outgoing, was he withdrawn?</s>ELAINE: I think he was very quiet and he did not speak when he came in.</s>CARROLL: Now, a town on edge as police continue their manhunt.</s>COOPER: And Jason Carroll joins us now from the search zone. Did this guy have any run-ins with the law that have caused a grudge against law enforcement or something? Do we know?</s>CARROLL: Well, he did, and in fact, it was just about several years ago, he was arrested for possession of stolen property that happened in New York, in New York State. And investigators are theorizing that perhaps, Anderson, just perhaps, that may have been the beginning of him mistrusting law enforcement. So these are some of the things that they're piecing together as they put together their investigation, but make no mistake about this. The real focus of what is going on out here, out here in these dark woods behind me is to try to find this man before he hurt somebody else.</s>COOPER: Yes, let's hope they do. Jason, thanks. Digging deeper now in the story, it seems as strange as it is scary with law enforcement and former FBI deputy director, Tom Fuentes. If this guy is acting in some kind of military simulation role as police believe he is, it certainly would make one think he may be looking to engage in combat or engage with officers searching for him.</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that would be the possibility, Anderson, that this was just the beginning. He ambushed those two officers using the .308 sniper rifle that he used, a hunting rifle, he is able to kill officers or anyone else from hundreds of yards away. Firing a large supersonic bullet that the victim actually gets hit with the bullet before the sound even gets there. So he could have shot these two officers before they ever knew what hit them, wounding one, killing the other. So that is a very dangerous weapon. The AK-47, obviously, you know, if he is doing Cold War re-enactments. The Calishnakov weapon developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War was the weapon of choice by the Soviet Union. Now world's famous as the weapon of choice of terrorists everywhere. So if that gun is either a semiautomatic or maybe he converted it back to being a fully automatic weapon. That is dangerous. So we don't know how much ammunition. How many magazines he has, what capacity he has for the sustained gun battle. But just the fact he can kill from a long way off makes him very, very dangerous.</s>COOPER: And the state police in Pennsylvania were speaking directly to this guy during the press conference. They made it very clear they're coming for him, which sounds like it could be exactly what he wants.</s>FUENTES: It could be. It could be that he is lining this up to have the Armageddon gun battle with law enforcement that he is looking for. And you know, the FBI had a case in 2010 involving the militia who wanted to kill a police officer. And then ambushed hundreds of officers when they attended the police funeral parade. That is going to happen tomorrow. So maybe he will come out of the woodwork shooting. We don't know.</s>COOPER: You don't know -- I mean, in a case like this and you have a heavily wooded area. Police have to search everywhere and then do they have to maintain troopers in that area so that the suspect doesn't potentially move back into an area they have already searched?</s>FUENTES: Right. They absolutely do. The big concern here is that he would commit a home invasion to seek shelter and food and water.</s>COOPER: Like Chris Dorner did --</s>FUENTES: Very much like Dorner, and I thought of Dorner immediately when they talked about finding his abandoned vehicle because that is what Dorner did. The authorities during that case were speculating that Dorner had fled. He could be a long way off. He maybe in Mexico and all that time he was within a few yards of the original where he abandoned. So he is dangerous. He could be right there under their nose right there in the woods in Pennsylvania.</s>COOPER: We'll continue to follow it. Tom Fuentes, appreciate you being on. Just ahead tonight in this hour, new questions about whether the clinic where Joan Rivers suffered fatal complications should still be open for business. We have exclusive new details about who ordered the clinic's to suspend all procedures.