--- title: Former State Trooper Fatally Shot After Killing 2 People description: The man had killed two people on the Pennsylvania Turnpike canonical: https://time.com/4267044/state-trooper-shot-dead/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-21T22:53:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:05:42.715Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Former State Trooper Fatally Shot After Killing 2 People og:description: The man was attempting an armed robbery og:url: https://time.com/4267044/state-trooper-shot-dead/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476abab93a63d684/69888bfa196cf405d503adb0/state-trooper-turnpike.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Police investigate at exit 180 off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Fort Littleton, Pa. A retired state trooper killed a turnpike toll collector and a security guard in a holdup attempt at a toll plaza and then was shot dead by tr og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former State Trooper Fatally Shot After Killing 2 People twitter:description: The man was attempting an armed robbery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476abab93a63d684/69888bfa196cf405d503adb0/state-trooper-turnpike.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former State Trooper Fatally Shot After Killing 2 People by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 21, 2016 10:53 PM CUT  Police investigate at exit 180 off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, in Fort Littleton, Pa, on Mar. 20, 2016. Police investigate at exit 180 off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, in Fort Littleton, Pa, on Mar. 20, 2016.Daniel Zampogna—PennLive.com/AP by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 21, 2016 10:53 PM CUT A retired Pennsylvania state trooper [killed two people](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/us/pennsylvania-former-state-trooper-killing/index.html "undefined") after killing two people while attempting to rob a tollbooth on Sunday before being fatally shot himself. Clarence D. Briggs, 55, first told two tollbooth employees to go into a building nearby their station on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where he tried to tie them up. They got loose and tried to escape; around the same time, a vehicle to collect fares arrived on the scene, CNN reports. In the resulting chaos, Briggs shot and killed one of the toll workers, Daniel Crouse, as well as a security guard for the vehicle, Ronald Heist. Briggs attempted to move money from the vehicle into his car, but police soon arrived on the scene, at which point a state trooper fatally shot Briggs. The chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike expressed sympathy for the families of the deceased, calling it “a day that none of us will soon forget.” \[[CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/us/pennsylvania-former-state-trooper-killing/index.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4267044/state-trooper-shot-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4267044/state-trooper-shot-dead/"},"headline":"Former State Trooper Fatally Shot After Killing 2 People","datePublished":"2016-03-21T22:53:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:05:42.715Z","description":"The man was attempting an armed robbery","url":"https://time.com/4267044/state-trooper-shot-dead/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476abab93a63d684/69888bfa196cf405d503adb0/state-trooper-turnpike.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476abab93a63d684/69888bfa196cf405d503adb0/state-trooper-turnpike.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Police investigate at exit 180 off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Fort Littleton, Pa. 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