Shootings leave 2 Maryland deputies and gunman dead
An investigator walks beneath a police tape line at the scene of a shooting at a shopping center in Abingdon, Md.
A Maryland sheriff says two deputies have died after they were wounded by a gunman who opened fire inside a crowded restaurant and got into a subsequent shootout with deputies.
The attacker was killed in the shootout, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said.
An initial shooting took place inside a Panera restaurant in northeastern Maryland after a deputy responded to a call at 11:46 a.m. Wednesday about someone causing a problem inside, the sheriff said. The responding deputy was struck, and the shooter left.
Witnesses gave officers a description of the man and the direction he was headed. After at least one deputy caught up with him, shots were exchanged, leaving the second deputy hit and the suspect dead, the sheriff said. No one else was hurt.
“I saw two women and a child run from Panera to our back door. They were hysterical. They said they heard gunshots,” said bartender Mike Davis, who was working at the Ocean City Brewing Co.’s Taphouse.
“We locked the door and went to talk to a cop. The cop said not to let anyone in. Then, we heard more gunshots, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop,’ from down in the shopping center. It was hectic.”
The sheriff said investigators believe the assailant acted alone.
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“The restaurant was very full at lunchtime,” Gahler said. “Thankfully, no one else was injured.”
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