AUTHORITIES: 3 DEAD, TROOPER HURT IN MD. SHOOTING
An employee opened fire at a manufacturing business in rural western Maryland on Thursday, killing three coworkers before the suspect and a state trooper were wounded in a shootout, authorities said.
Washington County Sheriff Doug Mullendore said that three victims were found dead at Columbia Machine Inc. in Smithsburg and a fourth victim was critically injured. The sheriff said at a news conference that the victims and suspect were all employees at the facility.
The suspect f led in a vehicle before authorities arrived at the scene and was tracked down by Maryland State Police, Mullendore said. The suspect and a trooper were wounded in an exchange of gunfire, according to the sheriff.
Mullendore said the suspect was a 42-year-old man but declined to release his name while criminal charges were being prepared.
The sheriff identified those killed in the shooting as Mark Alan Frey, 50; Charles Edward Minnick Jr., 31; and Joshua Robert Wallace, 30. Mullendore said the wounded victim was Brandon Chase Michael, 42
Maryland State Police Lt. Col. Bill Dofflemyer said that three troopers encountered the suspect’s vehicle and that he opened fire when troopers made a traffic stop. Troopers returned fire, wounding the suspect. Dofflemyer said the wounded trooper is doing well and that the suspect was being treated Thursday night.
Authorities declined to release a motive.
“We’re still working with sheriff ’s office on what happened and why it kept escalating,” Dofflemyer told reporters.
Mullendore said the suspect used a semiautomatic handgun, which was recovered after the shootout. He declined to specify the caliber or model.
Smithsburg, a community of nearly 3,000 people, is just west of the Camp David presidential retreat and about 75 miles northwest of Baltimore. The manufacturing facility was in a sparsely populated area northeast of the town’s center.