SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE BIDEN'S DELAWARE HOME

 Secret Service: Shots fired outside Bidens' Delaware home

   

     

By KEN THOMAS and RANDALL CHASE 4 hours ago

Authorities are searching for a suspect and any witnesses after multiple gunshots were fired from a vehicle Saturday night as it drove past the Greenville home of Vice President Joe Biden. The vice president and his wife, Jill, were not at home at the time, although their schedule had them being in Delaware for the weekend. Biden was spotted earlier in the day at Best Buy on Concord Pike.

The incident occurred about 8:25 p.m. as the vehicle drove past the complex at a high rate of speed, according to the Secret Service.

A release from the Secret Service said the car was traveling on Barley Mill Road. "This occurred on a public road outside the established security perimeter," Robert Hoback, a Secret Service spokes person, told The News Journal. "The shots were heard by Secret Service personnel posted at the residence and a vehicle was observed by an agent leaving the scene at a high rate of speed."  An official said thorough searches will be conducted on the outside of the residence, and nearby residences, to determine if any rounds hit a building.

Biden's 7,000-square-foot custom home sits on a private lake several hundred yards from Barley Mill Road. A carriage house and guard shack hug the road at the entrance of the four-acre estate.  Several vehicles, including a New Castle County SUV, were seen parked near the carriage house Sunday blocking the driveway leading to Biden's complex. Other SUVs with Washington D.C. license plates were driving up and down Barley Mill Road, occasionally pulling into the Biden entrance.

Several law officers, some in uniform, descended on a car that stopped on the side of the road just down from the entrance to Biden's about 1:45 p.m. As several officers spoke to a person in the car, other law enforcement could be seen standing in the rain at the driveway entrance.  The Secret Service and New Castle County Police are still investigating in the area.

Molly Ritter, 18, who said she lives nearby with her parents, was not home at the time of the shooting. "People were telling me last night there were police and stuff outside our house," said Ritter, who said she had not spoken to authorities. "We don't really know anything yet. I drove out today and I didn't see anything unusual. There are always people there."

Another neighbor who would not give her name said she was home at the time of the shooting but did not hear the shots. She said other neighbors reported hearing six or seven shots from a passing car. Barley Mill Road was closed until nearly midnight, said the neighbor, who was delayed in picking up her son from the movie theater because of the incident.

Police set up a perimeter and conducted a property check of the area and surrounding communities Saturday night in an attempt to find any suspects, said Sgt. Jacob Andrews, a county police spokesman. They were not successful.

While on scene, police arrested a man who tried to pass officers securing the outer perimeter of the area.

"The individual was not charged in relation to the shooting," Andrews said. "Police then conducted interviews with area residents in an attempt to gather more information in reference to the incident. The area residences were checked for any damage which yielded negative results."

Officers learned a short time later of a report of shots fired near Hoopes Reservoir, more than a mile away.