Cops, FBI say they're still 'actively' investigating fatal Harrisburg shooting spree

Ahmed El-Mofty

Four days after federal Homeland Security officials labeled the incident a terrorist attack, local investigators continue their probe of Friday's wide-ranging gun battle in Harrisburg that ended with the death of an Egyptian immigrant.

Dauphin County detectives said Tuesday that they, state police, Harrisburg police and the FBI are "actively" investigating the events that led to the fatal shooting of Ahmed El-Mofty in the city's Allison Hill section.

"Investigators are interviewing police officers, witnesses, and others with any connection to the shooting or to El-Mofty," the detectives said. "Further updates will be provided if warranted by the investigation."

Anyone with information can call 1-800-CALL-FBI and press option 7 after being connected, they said.

Investigators have said El-Mofty, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen, fired shots that struck a Capitol Police cruiser, putting a bullet through the windshield in an attack near Third and Walnut streets, just outside the state Capitol complex and the Ronald Reagan Federal Building. The officer in that car wasn't injured.

El-Mofty then chased and injured a female state police trooper before being killed by officers when he opened fire on them with two handguns at 17th and Mulberry streets. The injured trooper was released from the hospital Saturday.

District Attorney Ed Marsico has said El-Mofty was not on law enforcement radar before the attack. El-Mofty is believed to have worked in the security field, he said, and had returned to the U.S. from a trip to the Middle East in October, Marsico said.

El-Mofty's estranged wife, Ola Soweilam, who lives in the Camp Hill area, told PennLive she lost track of him years ago. Court records show Soweilam engaged in a fight to secure child support from El-Mofty between 2011 and 2015.