An employee opened fire at manufacturing plant in Maryland on Thursday afternoon, killing three co-workers and critically injuring another before he was shot by a state trooper in an exchange of gunfire that left both wounded, the authorities said.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the facility near Smithsburg, Md., about 70 miles northwest of Baltimore, in response to reports of an active shooter at about 2:30 p.m., but the man had already fled, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies found three people dead and one person in critical condition at Columbia Machine, a company based in Vancouver, Wash., the sheriff’s office said. Officials from the company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails.
Maryland State Police troopers who headed to the plant spotted the suspect based on a description of him and his vehicle, the sheriff’s office said. When they tried to stop the vehicle, the man “immediately” started firing at them with a semiautomatic handgun, injuring a trooper, the sheriff’s office said. Troopers returned fire.
The injured trooper was treated at a hospital and released, while the condition of the suspect was not immediately provided.
The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
The employees who were fatally shot were Mark A. Frey, 50, Charles E. Minnick Jr., 31, and Joshua R. Wallace, 30. The man who was critically injured is Brandon C. Michael, 42.
The suspect was identified as a 23-year-old from West Virginia, but the...
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