Standoff ends with suspected Douglass Twp. killer shot dead in Trainer

Showing up in the middle of the night Sunday at the Trainer home of a friend he hadn't seen in decades, Mark Geisenheyner made an astonishing confession:

He had just shot five people in Montgomery County the night before, including a 2-year-old child.

The shocked friend then awakened his wife and sent her out of the house at 4336 Post Rd. The friend, who was not publicly identified, then waited for Geisenheyner, 51, to fall asleep. During that time, the friend prayed he wouldn't be murdered, he'd later tell his landlord, Jack Elliott.

As Geisenheyner slept, the friend sneaked out and called police at 4:48 a.m. He told them that another person also lived in the house, and police contacted the man, who was working a night shift in a nearby business, and advised him to stay away from the house.

Sometime later, Geisenheyner woke up alone, the two-story house surrounded by 125 uniformed officers.

During the standoff with negotiators, Geisenheyner recounted that he had told the man he had set out to kill, Paul Shay, "Guess you never thought you'd see me again," before shooting him in the head.

Without expressing remorse, Geisenheyner, armed with a .45-caliber handgun, told police negotiators on the phone that he would never return to prison. He got his wish, perishing in police gunfire in the basement. He was pronounced dead at 11:48 a.m.

Police, witnesses, and the district attorneys of Delaware and Montgomery Counties offered these details of swiftly moving events that transpired after the Saturday night shootings.

Geisenheyner had a long criminal history in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, Delaware County District Attorney Mike Green and Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said at a news conference Monday afternoon. Some of the crimes were related to insurance fraud.

During the standoff, there were multiple negotiations between Geisenheyner and police between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., law enforcement officials said. He was asked repeatedly to come out with his arms raised. After 8:30 a.m., he stopped responding.

Geisenheyner was identified as the lone suspect in the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of three others in rural Douglass Township, about 50 miles north. All had been shot in the head, authorities said.

The dead were identified as Joseph Shay, 43, who lived in Yarmouth, Mass., and New York, and Gregory Erdmann, 2.

Gregory's mother, Kathryn Erdmann, 37, of Fall River, Mass., was hospitalized in critical condition, along with Paul and Monica Shay, the owners of the property.

It is Erdmann's voice on the 911 call to police saying, "I'm shot. I don't know where I am. Please help my baby."

Paul, 64, and Monica, 58, live in New York City. He owns a plumbing business; she is an associate professor in the arts and cultural management department at Pratt Institute, who grew up on the Montgomery County property on Renninger Road. Joseph Shay was Paul's nephew.

Ferman said Geisenheyner had been planning for 15 months to break into the home and rob and kill Paul Shay.

The two knew each other, and Ferman said her office was investigating a possible connection between them relating to an insurance scam.

Ferman said Geisenheyner had been surprised by the number of people in the house Saturday night, apparently unaware of Erdmann and her child.

During the standoff Monday, five tactical teams from Delaware County were on the scene.

One neighbor, Mike Hoopes, said he had watched as two phalanxes of 30 SWAT officers approached the house from the front and back.

Police fired tear gas and percussion bombs into the house.

"I heard a quick shot after that, and next thing you know an ambulance was coming down the alley," Hoopes said. "I saw the body coming out of the house, covered with a sheet."

Chris Bartolomeo, 38, a trash-truck driver who lives nearby, said: "We'd been hearing pop-pop-pop all morning."

According to court records in Pennsylvania, Geisenheyner had a history of charges including burglary, receiving stolen property, forgery, assault, possession of a firearm, and reckless endangerment. He had spent time in prison, authorities said.

According to records, Geisenheyner had lived at one time in Wallingford and Oxford, but it was unclear where he had most recently resided.

Neighbors described the area where the standoff took place as a low-crime, working-class community adjacent to a Conoco-Phillips refinery.

As events unfolded Monday, neighbors congregated near the scene, standing outside homes festooned with American flags for the Fourth of July.

"The police did a good job getting rid of him," said Trainer Councilman Brian Moore, who lives near the house where Geisenheyner was killed. "They got a bad guy off the streets."