PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette

Moments after reportedly firing shots from a van at West Fourth and Elmira streets, the driver crashed a block away, striking a parked car before overturning just after 7 p.m. Wednesday, one witness told the Sun-Gazette.

“The guy in the van was shooting from the vehicle. I heard five to seven shots,” said the witness, who was walking his dog in the block when the van careened out of control.

“I think he threw a half a stick of dynamite, a firecracker, something out the window, because there was a loud bang,” the witness, who did not give his name, said. “The firecracker landed between some houses,” he added.

Police were racing to the report of shots fired when they came upon the crash at West Fourth and Center streets, just a block west.

City firefighters responded and extricated the driver from the van after cutting out a

section of the vehicle’s roof and using other rescue tools in the process to free him.

Numerous spectators stood across the street and watched as city police quickly roped off the entire intersection with yellow crime tape.

The driver was loaded into an ambulance and whisked away to the UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center.

There was no word on whether any gun was found on the driver or in his vehicle.

It was unknown if the driver suffered just injuries from the crash or if he may have been wounded in a possible exchange of gunfire with another motorist in a second vehicle.

There was no information about the man’s medical condition.

Police sources said investigators were looking for an armed man related to the shooting, who was seen driving what was believed to be a silver or gold-colored Mercedes-Benz.

Another pedestrian who heard the gunfire told a reporter, “I heard seven shots and then a loud bang.” He declined to give his name.

A 69-year-old woman who lives at the nearby Williamsport Manor Apartments on Center Street said she heard the gunfire from her second-floor apartment.

“I think there were five shots. This is nuts. I hope we’re not going to see the shootings start up again. This is really sad,” she said. The tenant declined to give her name.

Police Chief Damon Hagan was at police headquarters Wednesday night to help coordinate the investigation.

One officer said “the crash is related to the shooting,” but refused to comment further.

More than a half a dozen casings were recovered at West Fourth and Elmira streets.

State police and officers with the Pennsylvania College of Technology Police assisted in securing or processing the two scenes.

Hagan told a reporter that the department was not prepared Wednesday night to release any details about the shooting and crash.

The report from the witness that shots came from the van could not be confirmed by anyone officially in the police department.

Unconfirmed media reports indicated about 11 p.m. Wednesday that a man connected with the shooting on West Fourth Street was held up in his home near Bald Eagle and North Liberty streets in Lock Haven.

It also was unknown if Wednesday night’s violence was at all related to a shooting that occurred last week on Maple Street in the city, which sent an adult male to the hospital with wounds.

Officers and paramedics responded to a shooting in the 600 block of Maple Street about 2:20 a.m. on July 17, according to a news release.

“One male subject had been wounded” and was taken to a local hospital, the release said.

Police said they issued a release about the shooting hours after it happened, but the Sun-Gazette had no record of receiving a copy.

There was no word Wednesday night about the man’s medical condition or the severity of his injuries. No arrest has been made.