Police: Man shot dead wanted in attack

Fugitive allegedly pulled revolver on his kids’ grandfather

The fugitive killed in a police shooting Wednesday in Northeast Baltimore was on the run after allegedly trying to shoot the grandfather of his twin toddlers in Pennsylvania, according to charging documents.

Two officers were shot and wounded when police and U.S. Marshals raided a townhouse apartment to arrest Michael Marullo. The 33-year-old resigned last month from working as a corrections officer in Maryland.

Baltimore Police have provided few details of the confrontation. Cellphone video circulating online shows officers positioned outside the apartments when a man bursts out pointing a handgun at them.

Police said they recovered a gun from the scene. They have not said whether Marullo fired his weapon.

One of the wounded officers, who was shot in his leg, was released Wednesday night from the hospital, a police spokesman said. The second officer was hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening; police did provide an update Thursday on his condition. Both were taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in downtown Baltimore.

Marullo died at the scene. Officers drew a white sheet over his body.

Events that led to the deadly encounter began Sunday some 80 miles to the northeast in Linwood, Pennsylvania.

The grandfather told police he had called Marullo to ask him about hitting the twins, charging documents said. Marullo hung up on him.

Two days later on Tuesday afternoon, Marullo showed up with the twins to confront the grandfather outside a car detailing shop in Linwood, police said. Police did not name the grandfather in charging documents against Marullo.

According to the documents,

the grandfather ordered Marullo to leave and returned to his work detailing a car. Then he heard a gunshot, police wrote.

“The victim looked back and saw the defendant holding a silver revolver pointing it at the victim,” police wrote.

The grandfather ran around the shop and heard another shot, he told police. Officers wrote that they interviewed two witnesses in the shop who corroborated the alleged attack.

Before Marullo drove away, one of the witnesses snapped a photo of his license plate with a cellphone, the officers wrote. They noted in their report that the grandfather appeared upset and shaken.

The patrol officers filed charges against Marullo including attempted homicide, assault, reckless endangerment and gun charges. On Wednesday, a magistrate judge in Pennsylvania issued a warrant for Marullo’s arrest and police and marshals headed for his home at Gardenvillage Apartments in Northeast Baltimore near Rosedale.

One neighbor said she heard police shouting at him “Get down!” Another said she heard a burst of gunfire. One man said he saw officers help one of the wounded off by holding him under the arms.

Baltimore police have not identified the wounded officers, but said one worked for Baltimore City and one for Baltimore County. They were assigned to help the federal Marshals Service arrest fugitives.

Later Wednesday night, Marullo’s mother was stunned to learn her son had died. Susan Marullo spoke to a reporter at the Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper, saying she last spoke to her son around 11:30 a.m. or noon Wednesday. He was planning to visit his hometown of Scranton on Friday.

“I’m in shock,” she said in the phone interview. “I see [these things] on TV and think, that poor parent. And now, I’m the poor parent.”

A native of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Marullo attended high school in Scranton and was featured in the Times-Tribune. One photo shows him among members of UNICO National, a service organization of Italian Americans. The Times-Tribune reported in September 2010 that Marullo enlisted in the Army National Guard. He graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, according to the newspaper.