Highway exit to honor fallen trooper
Sentinel photos by SAM BAUMGARDNER<br> The family of Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques ‘Jay’ Rougeau Jr. stand surrounded by family, friends, and members of the community Sunday during a dedication for a monument in Rougeau’s memory at the scene where he was slain during a shootout on June 17 in Mifflintown. Right: A monument marker stone sits in the center of a monument which now stands at the site where Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr. was slain on June 17.
Sentinel photos by SAM BAUMGARDNER<br> The family of Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques ‘Jay’ Rougeau Jr. stand surrounded by family, friends, and members of the community Sunday during a dedication for a monument in Rougeau’s memory at the scene where he was slain during a shootout on June 17 in Mifflintown. Right: A monument marker stone sits in the center of a monument which now stands at the site where Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr. was slain on June 17.
Sentinel photos by SAM BAUMGARDNER<br> The family of Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques ‘Jay’ Rougeau Jr. stand surrounded by family, friends, and members of the community Sunday during a dedication for a monument in Rougeau’s memory at the scene where he was slain during a shootout on June 17 in Mifflintown. Right: A monument marker stone sits in the center of a monument which now stands at the site where Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr. was slain on June 17.
Sentinel photos by SAM BAUMGARDNER<br> The family of Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques ‘Jay’ Rougeau Jr. stand surrounded by family, friends, and members of the community Sunday during a dedication for a monument in Rougeau’s memory at the scene where he was slain during a shootout on June 17 in Mifflintown. Right: A monument marker stone sits in the center of a monument which now stands at the site where Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr. was slain on June 17.
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MIFFLINTOWN -- Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques "Jay" F. Rougeau Jr. patrolled the roadways of Juniata County to protect and serve its residents.
Now, one of those roadways that Rougeau traveled on has been renamed in his memory. On Oct. 2, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved an amendment by Rep. Perry Stambaugh (R-Perry/Juniata) to rename the Arch Rock exit of Route 322 in Fermanagh Township as the "Trooper Jacques F. Rougeau Jr. Memorial Interchange," according to a news release issued by Stambaugh.
The amendment was part of Senate Bill 621, which included designations for dozens of other roadways and bridges throughout the Commonwealth. It was approved by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
"Trooper Rougeau, a three-year Pennsylvania State Police veteran assigned to Troop G, Lewistown Station in Juniata County, was killed in the line of duty on June 17, 2023," Stambaugh said in a release. "He was the 104th member of the Keystone State's rural and small-town constabulary to give his life in service since 1905."
Rougeau was born in San Diego, Calif., before being raised in Corry, Erie County. He enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in June 2020 and was eventually assigned to Troop G, Lewistown, in March 2023.
Rougeau was off duty when he learned that a gunman fired shots at parked patrol cruisers at the Lewistown barracks before fleeing.
During the search for the gunman, the shooter critically wounded Lt. James Wagner before fleeing again. Rougeau responded to assist troopers when he was shot and killed a short time later.
The gunman, later identified as Brandon Stine, of Thompsontown, was killed by law enforcement during an intense gunfight with "hundreds of rounds" fired the same day, police said.