Police barracks ambush suspect Eric Frein charged with terrorism

Eric Frein, the man suspected in a September ambush at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks that left one trooper dead and another wounded, has been charged with terrorism.

Pennsylvania State Police and the Pike County district attorney filed the new criminal complaint at a preliminary hearing Thursday, according to reporter Eric Deabill with CBS affiliate WYOU in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

According to the complaint, Frein told investigators "he wanted to make a change (in government) and that voting was insufficient to do so because there was no one worth voting for."

Frein took credit for the Sept. 12 ambush, referring to the shooting death of Cpl. Bryon Dickson as an "assassination" that was intended to "wake people up because it was all he could do." Trooper Alex Douglass was seriously wounded in the attack.

The terrorism charges stem from Frein allegedly shooting the troopers "with the purpose of influencing the policy of government."

A letter Frein wrote to his parents, found on a computer hard drive after his Oct. 30 capture at an abandoned airplane hangar in the Pocono Mountains, formed some basis for the new charges. The 31-year-old survivalist, described as having a vendetta against law enforcement, was arrested after a 48-day manhunt.

Frein appeared at the hearing via video, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, along with his lawyers. He is being held without bail on first-degree murder, attempted murder, possession of a weapon of mass destruction and other charges.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Frein is convicted. He is due back in court Dec. 9.