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Armed suspect in Panera shoots two Maryland officers Two officers killed in lunchtime shooting at a Md. Panera Bread
(about 4 hours later)
An armed person shot a sheriff’s deputy in a Panera restaurant in Maryland on Wednesday, then shot a second deputy. The suspect was then fatally shot by police. Two Harford County sheriff’s deputies were killed in Maryland on Wednesday by an armed man who entered a Panera restaurant at lunchtime.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office refused to release the condition of the two officers who were shot, but did say that one of the two required transportation by air to a shock trauma center. The suspect was fatally shot by authorities after he shot the two deputies.
The sheriff’s office also provided no information about the gunman who was killed. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced the deaths of the two members of his department Wednesday afternoon.
Cristie Kahler, a spokeswoman for the department, said that police got a call about a person acting suspiciously in a Panera restaurant in Abingdon at 11:49 a.m. “They’re both two outstanding deputies who served the citizens of this county for 16 and 30 years respectively,” Gahler said.
When they arrived, the person shot one of the deputies and then ran out the door. He did not identify the deputies, since he said that their extended families had not been notified of their deaths.
Citizens who saw the person running pointed police in the right direction, Kahler said. An official who spoke at a news conference Wednesday afternoon said that officers found the suspect almost immediately, down the hill from the restaurant. There, the suspect shot another deputy. The sheriff’s office identified the suspect as David Brian Evans, 67. They said that he was wanted on a warrant from Florida for assaulting a police officer there, as well as a civil writ issued in Harford County.
One or more deputies then fired back at the suspect, fatally wounding the person. Gahler said that Evans entered a Panera in Abingdon during the busy lunchtime rush Wednesday. At 11:46 a.m., someone called police to say that Evans was acting suspiciously in the restaurant.
The official said that no one who was inside the Panera, which was full of lunchtime diners, was hurt during the incident. He said officers are interviewing everyone in the restaurant before allowing them to leave. When a deputy arrived, Evans shot the deputy and then ran out the door.
“I think the suspect took that action because he was wearing a police uniform,” Gahler said of the deputy who was shot. “He certainly targeted him.”
Citizens who saw Evans running away pointed authorities in the right direction, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Cristie Kahler said.
Gahler said that a deputy found Evans almost immediately, down the hill from the restaurant. Evans then shot that deputy too.
Two more deputies who arrived next then fired at the suspect, fatally wounding the man. Both have been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates the shooting.
Gahler said that no one who was inside the Panera, which was full of lunchtime diners, was hurt during the incident. He said authorities were interviewing everyone in the restaurant before allowing them to leave.
He said that the sheriff’s office has had contact with Evans before, but he did not provide further information.