By Josh Mitchell
The Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON - A search for a man accused of shooting a Washington police officer in the face ended over the weekend in a shootout at a Howard County, Md., motel that left the suspect dead and a Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputy seriously wounded, authorities said.
The incident happened about 3:30 a.m. Saturday at the Econo Lodge on Washington Boulevard in North Laurel. Officers from a regional fugitive task force investigating the shooting of a police detective in Northeast Washington hours earlier forced their way into a room at the motel, said Sgt. Mario Ellis of the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office.
As the officers entered, the suspect opened fire, Ellis said. Officers returned fire and shot the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect was identified as Aaron Mason Lowry, 31, of Washington, who was wanted on several warrants, including attempted murder and robbery.
A veteran sheriff’s deputy, Cpl. Cal Bowers, was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He underwent surgery Saturday morning, Ellis said. Bowers was in serious but stable condition over the weekend after the surgery.
Three other people in the motel room with the suspect were in custody, he said.
Bowers serves on the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, which includes U.S. marshals and officers from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and other area agencies.
Efforts to obtain comment from the Washington police yesterday were unsuccessful.
Members of the task force were serving a paternity support warrant in the Brookland section of Northeast Washington on Friday afternoon when a gunman opened fire, The Washington Post reported.
A bullet grazed the face of Antonio Duncan, a 37-year-old detective. The wounded officer was conscious and able to speak after the shooting, according to the Post.
Officers searching the area found the man wanted in connection with the paternity warrant and took him into custody, the Post reported. As of Friday he had not been charged in the shooting of the officer.
The man accused in the shooting also was being sought yesterday on a warrant charging him with armed robbery and attempted murder stemming from a previous incident, Ellis said.
Members of the task force learned that the shooting suspect was at the Econo Lodge in North Laurel, Ellis said.
“Our tactical unit set up to make entry in the room,” Ellis said, adding that officers forced open the door. “They made entry and the suspect fired shots. ... When he fired, they returned fire.”
The deputy sheriff injured in the shooting was wearing a protective vest, Ellis said.
After the shooting, investigators stood outside a second-floor room at the motel, next to a shattered window partly covered by a striped curtain.
Copyright 2008 The Baltimore Sun