Lawyer Fatally Shot Outside Office

Police are searching for the killer of a Bucks County lawyer who was shot outside of his law firm Wednesday as a co-worker watched.

Authorities said Eric Birnbaum was arriving for work and was shot in the parking lot of the Gateway Shopping center on Buck Road, in the Holland section of Northampton Township.

Police are considering all possible motives and going over all of Birnbaum's cases.

He was rushed to St. Mary's Medical Center after the shooting at 9 .m. Wednesday but pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m.

Police thought they might have had their guy after the shooting. They had a man in custody and were questioning him extensively for several hours because he was driving a vehicle matching a description provided by witnesses.

But the driver of that vehicle has been released, so police are back to square one, trying to figure out who shot the lawyer and why.

It's not supposed to happen at 9 a.m. on a warm, sunny morning in what is typically a very safe part of Bucks County.

"I saw a body lying on the ground. It must have been right after it happened. So, I thought it was a heart attack at first," said one witness, who did not want to be identified.

The witness who raced over to the man to try to help said, "I thought I could lift him up and put him into the car and take him to the hospital, but there was blood everywhere."

"One shot -- one shot from a handgun, and that's to the back of the head," Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney David Zellis said.

Birnbaum, 51, was an attorney at the Terry D. Goldberg Associates law firm. He practiced personal injury, bankruptcy, divorce and family law. He worked at the law firm for less than a year. Investigators said he had gotten out of his car but hadn't even made it to the front door when the gunman walked up behind him.

"I'm not aware of any exchange of words or anything," Northampton Police Chief Barry Pilla said.

One of the victim's co-workers pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall at that moment.

"She was screaming. She was screaming, 'He shot him in the back of the head,' and she was hysterical," said the witness who tried to help.

People in businesses near the shooting scene described Birnbaum as a very nice man.

The police chief is asking anyone who might have seen anything unusual or suspicious in the area of 92 Buck Road anytime between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. to please call them.