Two Die After Church Shooting
Pastor Dale Morgan
Two Die After Church Shooting*
POSTED: 1:26 pm EDT June 27, 2008
UPDATED: 12:01 am EDT June 28, 2008
CLEARFIELD, Pa. -- A shooting victim and his shooter died after a
shooting in a Clearfield County church.
The victim, Jim Dixon, and his shooter, Norman Kauffman, died at Altoona
Regional Medical Center.
The shooting happened at the Trinity United Methodist Church in
Clearfield. Pastor Bob Rupp said Dixon was retired and worked as the
church's maintenance worker to keep busy. Kauffman served as the
church's computer teacher.
"I think, first of all, we have to begin to build relationships and heal
the hurt that is there. Why the reason, we'll never know," Rupp said.
Police said Jim Dixon was having an affair with Kauffman's wife.
According to court documents, Kauffman shot Dixon Thursday morning in
the church basement and then drove to the Moshannon State Forest.
For eight hours, Kauffman led police through the forest's dense network
of dirt roads, which stretch into Elk, Centre and Cameron counties.
Norm Kauffman is a former employee at the Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources office near Elliot State Park and called many of his
former co-workers during the day. Because of that, police found
Kauffman's location using his cell phone signal and GPS.
Kauffman was located around 3:30 p.m. Thursday along Four Mile Road,
just two miles away form where his car was found. He was immediately
flown to Altoona Regional Hospital due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
County officials said they were able to local Kauffman because of
intense cooperation between the police and the DCNR.
"He maintained contact with law enforcement throughout the day via his
cell-phone and we were able to use triangulation cooperation throughout
the cell phone companies and ultimately he called and reported his
location and where he would be," said District Attorney William A. Shaw.
Rupp said he never expected something like this to happen in Clearfield,
let alone his own church. Stay with Channel 6 News and WJACTV.com for
continuing coverage.