Raid rounds up 11 in Mount Union

MOUNT UNION - Eleven people were arrested Wednesday morning during a raid at a Huntingdon County public housing complex, authorities said.

The investigation may help shed light on the January shooting deaths of two women at the Chestnut Terrace housing complex in Mount Union, Huntingdon County District Attorney George Zanic said. No arrests have been made in the homicide case.

"This is an ongoing investigation that originated from the homicides that occurred in January this year," Zanic said. "By all means, this does not mean that the suspects arrested [Wednesday] are involved with the murders. There will be more drug arrests made - I can promise you that."

Federal, state and local agents served the warrants about 8 a.m., state police at Huntingdon said. The names of those arrested were not released because the federal indictments against them are sealed, Zanic said.

The 11 people were taken to U.S. District Court to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge for arraignment. Some of the arrests were for drug charges, while others were for housing authority violations, Zanic said. Two other people were arrested on unrelated warrants.

State police continue to investigate the January shooting deaths of Christine McWhorter, 22, and her aunt, Beatrice Daniels, 33, both of Mount Union. Both women died from single gunshot wounds to the head while lying in bed in McWhorter's Chestnut Terrace apartment, police said.

McWhorter's two children, a 4-year-old and a 4-month-old, were in the apartment at the time of the shootings, police said. The toddler alerted a neighbor, and the neighbor then contacted police.

Troopers from four barracks, including officers from Philadelphia as well as federal agents, assisted in the homicide investigation. The women originally were from Philadelphia.

The investigation resulting in Wednesday's arrests involved state police, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Huntingdon County Housing Authority, which owns Chestnut Terrace. The state and federal agencies were assisted in making the arrests by the drug task forces in Huntingdon and Mifflin counties and the Huntingdon County Sheriff's Department.