By Tom Foreman Jr.
Associated Press
WALDORF, Md. — Two Maryland sheriff’s deputies were shot and wounded Monday while trying to serve a warrant for a probation violation on an assault charge, a spokeswoman said.
Charles County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Diane Richardson told The Associated Press that deputies responded to a call at around 3:30 p.m. from a home in Waldorf about a man who the caller, identified as a family member, wanted out of the house. Additional deputies were dispatched to the home, Richardson said, because there were concerns about the man’s mental condition and the danger he might pose. He was said to be experiencing a “mental health episode,” she said, citing the caller.
The family member let the deputies inside the home, and as they began going upstairs, the suspect came out of a room and opened fire, Richardson said. Two deputies were shot multiple times, but managed to get out of the house and were flown to a hospital for treatment of serious injuries that didn’t appear to be life-threatening, she said. Richardson said it wasn’t known if deputies returned fire, and she didn’t know how many deputies entered the home.
The man was barricaded inside the home and deputies had not been able to make contact with him, Sheriff Troy Berry told reporters at a briefing on Monday evening. It’s believed the family member who made the call was able to get out of the home.
The sheriff’s office later tweeted that “officers made entry into the house and the subject was located. He was deceased.” No further information was given on the man’s death.
https://twitter.com/CCSOMD/status/1394461245751939099
Berry said the deputies were not wearing body cameras.
Waldorf is an unincorporated community 25 miles (40 km) south of Washington.
On April 28, a gunman shot and killed two Watauga County, North Carolina, sheriff’s deputies in addition to his mother and stepfather before he killed himself after a 13-hour standoff.