Shooting suspect slain after 2 shot in Maryland
Two people were shot and critically wounded in an attack at an industrial park in Frederick, Maryland, on Tuesday before the suspect was fatally shot at a nearby military installation, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as a 38-yearold Navy medic, entered a business in the Riverside Tech Park and some people fled, but it was not immediately clear whether the shootings took place inside or outside the business, Police Chief Jason Lando said.
The suspect then drove to Fort Detrick, about 4 miles away, Lando said. Fort Detrick spokeswoman Lanessa Hill said the suspect drove through a gate at an entrance to the base before base personnel confronted him on a road.
“It wasn’t that long before he came through the gate. Not even a quarter of a mile,” Hill said. She said Frederick police had notified them, “so we knew that he was out there.”
“Fort Detrick police have neutralized an active shooter situation involving an armed gunman and medical lifesaving procedures were initiated,” the Army installation said on its Twitter feed. “The gunman was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The Navy described the shooter as a Navy hospital corpsman. Fort Detrick is home to the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and a campus of the National Cancer Institute.
Lando, who became chief a month ago, said the victims were flown to a shock trauma center in Baltimore. He said there was only one shooter and “the public is no longer at risk. Everyone is safe.”
The shooting comes after a series of fatal shooting attacks around the nation in recent weeks, including one last week at a California office building that left four people dead.
“It’s very tragic and its happening too frequently,” Lando said. “Every time we turn on the TV we see it happening. And now its happening in our back yard.”
Jeremy Mutschler, director of marketing for Nicolock Paving Stones, said the shooting apparently took place near the company’s Frederick location but not at the business itself.
“One of the victims who was wounded entered our facility looking for help and we were able to assist and call the authorities,” Mutschler, who is based in New York, told The Associated Press.