UPDATE: Berwick woman, employee, identified as Geisinger victim; alleged suspect killed near Aristes

(Left)KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The sign for Geisinger Medical Center on Dec. 30, 2022. (Right) DON SCICCHITANO / SPECIAL TO SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The charred remains of a Ford Edge sedan in the woodlands on Route 42 in Conyngham Township on Dec. 30, 2022.

MAHONING TOWNSHIP, Montour County – Two tragedies an hour apart Friday evening are connected, according to the coroners in Montour and Columbia Counties.

Montour County Coroner Scott Lynn identified the victim of Friday’s shooting at Geisinger Medical Center as Vikki Wetzel, 49, of Berwick.

She was returning to her car after her shift in the hospital’s Laboratory Medicine Department and was shot multiple times, Lynn said Saturday morning.

“Please keep this family, coworkers, and friends in your thoughts and prayers extremely difficult time,” Lynn said.

The shooting happened around 5pm, Lynn said.

About halfway between Danville and Shenandoah, Route 42 in the Brush Valley just north of Aristes was closed down around 6pm for a fatal crash.

That crash, Columbia County Jeremy Reese said, is connected and took the life of the alleged killer.

David Morgan, 48, of Mount Carmel, died in the Conyngham Township crash when Reese said he was ejected and burned in the fiery crash.

Reese also said he had an apparent gunshot wound prior to the crash. The cause is pending a forensic autopsy set for Wednesday.

Lynn said the person of interest fled the scene in a dark SUV believed to be a Ford Edge according to video surveillance.

The vehicle involved in Friday’s crash appeared to be a Ford Edge.

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