With Friday marking the seventh day of the manhunt for Eric Frein, the suspect in an ambush shooting that left one police officer dead and another injured, law enforcement officials said they were working to eliminate potential hiding places in the shelter-rich Pocono mountains.



But with no sign of Frein, an anti-law enforcement survivalist who has so far evaded a substantial search effort, those familiar with the terrain said he could easily hide out in the area for months. Schools are closed, communities are on edge, and officials have asked people not to fire their guns while the hunt continues.

On Thursday, police blocked off a section of mountain roads that lead to Frein’s home in Barrett Township, Pennsylvania, but a six-hour search of the area failed to find him.

Barrett Township police chief Steven Williams on Thursday night asked community members to refrain from shooting guns until Frein is caught.

This request is a cultural shift for this area of eastern Pennsylvania, where hunting is popular. People shoot in the many sanctioned hunting areas, but also use guns for mundane tasks such as to “dispatch a groundhog”, explained Tom Setler, a manager at Dunkelberger’s Sports Outfitter on Main Street in Stroudsburg.

A lifelong Pennsylvania resident, Setler has hunted for 40 years, 30 of them here. Standing over a display shelf of handguns and backed by rows of rifles, Setler said that there are “endless possibilities” for survival in this part of the woods. “But would you want to hang out there?” Setler said.

Frein has just made the FBI’s Most Wanted List, with a $175,000 reward for his capture, making him more inclined than most to hunker down in the woods. And while the winter is coming, Setler and his colleagues think Frein could survive the cold weather.



An honor guard carries the casket of Pennsylvania State Trooper Cpl Bryon Dickson, suspected to have been killed by Frein, in Scranton. Photograph: Matt Slocum/AP

The region has plenty of water sources, and had Frein prepared the way his survivalist legend suggests, he could have food supplies stored across the mountains.

Unlike the dangerous brown bears and mountain lions in the western United States, creatures in the Poconos are barely a threat. “Here in Pennsylvania, the only thing that’s going to hurt you is mosquitoes,” said Setler, who has encountered several “timid” black bears while hunting in the hilly terrain and has never seen a rattlesnake, though they are said to exist in the region.

The Poconos are further distinguished from the expansive mountain ranges out west because even the most desolate areas in Pennsylvania are relatively close to people. “Typically, you can walk in any direction and after a few miles you hit humanity,” said Setler.

Andy Edwards, the gun manager at Dunkelberger’s, said that because it is towards the end of hunting season, there are more places to take shelter. These places include Boy Scouts camps that have closed for the summer, shuttered summer homes, state-sanctioned hunting cabins and foreclosed properties.

“It’s scary to say, but it’s not hard to get into anyone of them – if you’ve got the gumption,” said Edwards.

More shelter can be found in the extremely dense underbrush in some parts of the region. This, combined with the dense woods, made more dense by the recently arrived autumn leaves, creates an environment where visibility is 70 yards on an average day, said Edwards.

These spots are a target for law enforcement. “We have now made the world where he could hide a very, very small place,” Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia office, told the Associated Press.

A Pennsylvania State Trooper prepares to enter a wooded area. Photograph: Butch Comegys/AP

People who tried to enter Barrett Township on Thursday were met by armed police officers aiming flashlights into the backseats of cars. A temporary shelter was created for residents trying to enter the area to their homes, while people already in their homes were ordered to lock their doors, close their blinds and stay inside.

The six-hour long hunt brought in law enforcement officers from outside of Pennsylvania, whose cars have clogged the region’s streets, and at least one armored vehicle was seen entering the closed-off area, which could only be accessed through winding, hilly streets, where the dense forest edging the road could barely be seen in the darkness.

Roadside homes were lit like torches every few miles, though their blinds were, tellingly, shut tight. This spooky setup lent itself to suspense film scenarios, as the local legend surrounding Frein is one of a highly sophisticated sniper and expert survivalist, though the depth of his skills has yet to be proven in detail.

The FBI said he is to be considered “armed and extremely dangerous” and that he has many connections in the mid-Atlantic region, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Frein has been charged with homicide, homicide of a law enforcement officer, and attempted murder. He is also charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.