by Randall Chase
The Associated Press
LAUREL, Del. - A man wearing body armor shot six people, killing two, during a violent spree Thursday in the eastern states of Maryland and Delaware before police arrested him, authorities said.
Police said the suspect also carjacked a vehicle, shot and killed a dog, and rammed a sport utility vehicle into a house during the rampage. Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeff Oldham said authorities have a motive for the attacks, but are not releasing details.
The attacks started in Laurel, where three men were shot, and continued across the border in Maryland, where the suspect fled on foot before being caught. The other three people were shot in Salisbury, Maryland, including one who died, Oldham said.
Police identified the suspect only as a man in his late teens or early 20s. A witness said police told her that the suspect was trying to shoot into an apartment in Laurel where his girlfriend lived when the crime spree began.
Two people were shot at the apartment building, and another at a nearby shopping center.
“It was just poom, poom, poom, poom, you know. It just scared me so bad,” said resident Matilda Smith.
She saw a young man covered in blood fall off an air-conditioning unit he had been sitting on, about 20 feet from her door step. “To me, what I could see was nothing but blood; it shook me up,” she said. “I stood there and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
At the shopping center, a trail of blood led down a road. Witnesses said a man was shot on side of the road, then staggered along the storefronts before collapsing. The mayor said this victim was apparently shot while trying to hitch a ride from the suspect as he fled the scene.
In Salisbury, he ran a sport utility vehicle into a house, then carjacked a car and was involved in an accident, police said. Maryland State Police said the suspect was wearing body armor and carrying a handgun when he was caught in Salibury.
Of the four wounded, at least two were listed in very serious condition.
AP writer Sarah Brumfield contributed to this story from Salisbury, Maryland.