BY KATE FELDMAN
New York Daily News
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — Two people are dead in Maryland after a man fired at cops, then stole a police cruiser and hit a relative while he fled the scene, officials said early Tuesday morning.
Prince George’s County police responded to calls about a suicidal man with a gun around 1 a.m. Tuesday in Lanham, Interim Police Chief Hector Velez said during a press conference. When they arrived, they were met with a hail of gunfire from the suspect.
One officer, who didn’t even have time to get out of his car before the bullets rained down, “took cover behind his backup officer’s vehicle,” Velez said.
The suspect then got into the vacated cruiser and drove up the road, then circled back and drove back toward the officers.
As he was retreating, the man hit a family member, who had chased after the suspect when he left another location earlier that morning “in an attempt to de-escalate the situation,” Velez said.
The relative was killed.
After crossing over to another intersection, the suspect side-swiped New Carrolton Police Department vehicles and hit a third directly.
Responding police officers began shooting at the suspect, who was apprehended and taken to a local hospital, where he was declared dead.
A New Carrollton officer involved in one of the collisions was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be OK.
Velez said during the press conference that investigators are still working to determine at what point during the incident the suspect was shot.
“There is an exchange of gunfire,” he said.
Neither the suspect nor the victim have been publicly identified.
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