Civilian with Gun Comes to Aid of Pennsylvania Officer During Shootout

A concealed carry permit holder reportedly came to the aid of a Farrell, Pennsylvania, police officer during a shootout early Friday morning.

"He had a valid concealed-carry permit, he had a gun," Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker told The Sharon Herald . "He went to where the police officer was and fired on the suspect."

No information was given on whether the civilian hit the suspect.

Acker said the suspect, identified only as a 49-year-old white man, was undergoing treatment Friday evening at a hospital in Youngstown for life-threatening injuries.

The man was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with police shortly after midnight outside a convenience store in Farrell. The incident began when a Farrell police officer encountered the man and determined that the man, who has not been named, was carrying a weapon.

After the man was wounded, he still refused to surrender the weapon. Acker said the police officer also fired bean-bag rounds during the incident, and police used an armored personnel carrier provided by Mercer County Critical Incident Response Team to disarm the man.