Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

UPDATE: Due to the death of Cpl. Bryon Dickson II during an ambush-style attack at the Blooming Grove station on Friday, the Purple Heart Ceremony for Trooper Bradley Wilson has been postponed. The state trooper who was shot and critically injured while serving a search warrant on a suspected meth lab near Brockway last year will be awarded a Pennsylvania State Police Purple Heart Award. Trooper Bradley Wilson will receive the award Wednesday in Punxsutawney. The incident happened on September 26 when the father of the suspect shot Wilson in the chest and neck. Trooper Bruce Morris says the gunshots resulted in significant paralysis, and Wilson’s recovery has been long and difficult, and is ongoing. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Three State Troopers have received the Pennsylvania Narcotics Officers’ Association Heroism Award for rescuing another trooper who was shot while executing a search warrant in Jefferson County last September. Corporal Dennis Ulery, Corporal Joseph Alessandro and Trooper Dustin Sosak were presented with the award, which has been given out only three other times in 25 years. On September 26, 2013, a Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Response Team was assisting the Troop C Vice Unit and the Jefferson County Drug Task Force with the execution of a drug search warrant just outside of Brockway. The suspect’s father shot Trooper Bradley Wilson twice in the upper chest and neck area. As troopers and officers from the Jefferson County Drug Task Force used suppression fire, the other troopers pulled Wilson away from the line of fire and moved him to a secure location. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said, “Had it not been for the actions of these three men foregoing the...

The preliminary hearing for the man whose father shot and critically wounded a state trooper has been moved to next month. Kenneth Lees II had been scheduled for a hearing on felony charges of aggravated assault and fleeing or eluding police as well as a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and six traffic offenses. Lees’ father shot state trooper Bradley Wilson in the neck and torso as he was trying to serve a warrant on Lees’ Brockway house to look for evidence of a meth lab on September 26. After the shooting, police were looking for the younger Lees, who eventually took them on a chase that lasted nearly half an hour. Lees’ father shot and killed himself inside the house. Wilson remains hospitalized in Pittsburgh. Lees has not been charged with any drug offenses. He is in Jefferson County Jail on $75,000 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The state trooper who was shot and critically injured Thursday afternoon in Brockway is in stable condition at UPMC in Pittsburgh, but officials say he will have a long road to recovery. Officials wouldn't give specifics about Trooper Bradley Wilson's condition, but did say he is expected to survive. Wilson was shot in the neck and torso by 60-year-old Kenneth Lees Sr. as he and another trooper were attempting to execute a search warrants at Lees’ home. Lees took his own life several hours later after barricading himself inside his home. Police did not storm the house because they suspected a meth lab was operating there and the chemicals used to cook the drug are highly volatile. They had been investigating for about two weeks. Lees’ son, Kenneth Lees II, is charged with felony counts of aggravated assault and fleeing or attempting to elude police, for taking officers on a 15- to 20-mile chase Thursday night. He’s jailed on $75,000 bail, The news leader of th...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director The man who shot and critically injured a state trooper Thursday afternoon shot himself early this morning as a Special Emergency Response Team unit surrounded his Brockway home. 60-year-old Kenneth Lees Sr. was found dead inside his home when the SERT when into the house at 1 a.m. The incident began as members of the Pennsylvania State Police and the Jefferson County Drug Task Force were serving a search warrant on the occupants of the Kenneth Lees Sr. residence at 1881 Cemetery Hill Road near Brockway (about 4 minutes from the Main Street Sheetz) at about 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon. Upon approaching the front door of the residence and announcing their identity and possession of a lawful search warrant, the officers were met with gunfire from an occupant of the home. Trooper First Class Bradley Wilson was struck in the neck and upper torso by two bullets fired from the residence and was immediately incapacitated. Troopers and office...