Gahler said Evans entered a Panera in Abingdon during the busy lunchtime rush Wednesday. A man opened fire inside a shopping center restaurant during lunchtime.
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Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said Wednesday that the gunman was 67-year-old David Brian Evans.
A sheriff’s deputy was called to the restaurant just before noon, presumably because “someone knew who he was”, Gahler said. The second deputy died at the hospital.
Deputy Patrick Dailey was a 30-year veteran of the force, assigned to the court service division, and Deputy Mark Logsdon was a 16-year veteran assigned to the community services division. The deputy sat alongside the suspect, started talking, and then the man shot him in the head. “A loaded handgun was recovered… from the suspect inside the vehicle with him”, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said.
Two sheriff’s deputies were shot dead around and inside a restaurant in the Baltimore area Wednesday, the department’s chief confirmed, and the suspect is “no longer a threat to the community”. The agency was not yet identifying the two deceased deputies.
Sophia Faulkner, 15, said she and her mother were getting lunch and nearly sat right next to the gunman. He was sitting in the back of the restaurant and hadn’t ordered any food, Faulkner said.
“It’s absolutely surreal as a Harford County resident”.
Witnesses pointed responding deputies and officers in the direction Evans ran. The other was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
The other deputies who shot at Evans have been placed on administrative leave, per protocol, pending an investigation, Gahler said.
A second deputy attempted to make contact and also was struck by gunfire.
Evans said his mother told investigators what had happened 20 years ago and gave them as many specifics as she could. After at least one deputy caught up with the person, shots were exchanged.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan released a statement on the shooting, saying he was “heartbroken”.
Upon hearing from her sons that he may have been spotted in Harford County and was at the Panera in Abingdon, she went to the restaurant to see for herself, then alerted the sheriff’s office that she thought there was a warrant out for his arrest and was afraid he was going to hurt her, according to Jeremy Evans. Two officers were shot to death in 2001 in a trailer park in Centreville on the Eastern Shore. ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop, ‘ from down in the shopping center.
Police say the incident happened near a Wegmans grocery store. The initial shooting took place inside a Panera restaurant which was crowded at the time.
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