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Witness describes chaotic Panera shooting that left two deputies dead Witness describes chaotic Panera shooting that left two deputies dead
(about 5 hours later)
The former wife of the man authorities say fatally shot two deputies at a Maryland Panera on Wednesday said the incident began after she reported that the man was at the restaurant and felt he might pose a danger to her family. ABINGDON, Md. — Elizabeth Rupp said she always suspected that her ex-husband shot her on New Year’s Eve 17 years ago. He vanished afterward and she never saw him again until a chance encounter at a Panera restaurant in Abingdon in December.
At an 11 a.m. news conference, the Harford County sheriff’s office also released the names of the two deputies who were killed. Rupp said that the scruffy man stopped her short. He looked like David Brian Evans, but she wanted to make sure, so she returned Wednesday. Convinced it was him, she dialed 911.
Deputy Patrick Dailey, a 30-year veteran of the department, and Senior Deputy Mark Logsdon, who had been with the office for 16 years, were shot and killed by a man who Dailey was trying to apprehend. Both officers were military veterans and left behind families. The chaos that erupted next claimed the lives of two Harford County sheriff’s deputies in one of the deadliest days for Maryland law enforcement in recent memory. Authorities said that Evans, 68, unexpectedly fired at them and then was killed by other deputies.
“It’s absolutely devastating to the people that wear this uniform,” Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said, choking up as he stood before about a dozen deputies, all wearing black bands across their badges. “There are no words. These men are heroes.” The Harford County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims Thursday as Senior Deputy Patrick Dailey, a 30-year veteran, and Senior Deputy Mark Logsdon, who had been with the office for 16 years. Both were military veterans and decorated officers who left families behind.
“It was a horror. It was a horror,” said Lynn Faulkner, a customer at the restaurant. “Children were crying. Strangers that didn’t know each other were hugging. You don’t expect to take your daughter to brunch at Panera on a snow day and expect a sheriff to be shot and die.”
[Two deputies killed in lunchtime shooting at a Maryland Panera Bread][Two deputies killed in lunchtime shooting at a Maryland Panera Bread]
The sheriff’s office identified the shooter as David Brian Evans, 68. They said that he was wanted on a warrant from Florida for assaulting a police officer there, as well as on a civil writ issued in Harford County. Faulkner, 56, of Fallston, Md., said she and daughter Sophia were sitting about 15 feet from Evans when the shooting began.
Elizabeth Rupp, 67, of Aberdeen, Md., said the incident began about 10:30 a.m. when she went to the Panera in Abingdon, Md., and spotted her ex-husband. Rupp said she was shot on New Year’s Eve in 1998 and she suspected him in the attack. “The police officer came in,” Faulkner said. “I had my back to it. The officer sat down at the man’s table. I think he exchanged one sentence. That’s when he was shot and fell back in the chair.”
“I would say these officers were courageous and they bought my family’s safety,” Rupp said. “I am thankful they are dedicated to what they do. I will pray for these officers every day. I feel horrible.” Dailey “never had a chance” to even unholster his gun, Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said.
Rupp said she had first seen a man resembling Evans at the Panera in December, but she was not sure it was him because she had not had contact with him in about 17 years. Rupp returned to the Panera a second and then a third time Monday to study the man. Sophia Faulkner, 15, described the sound as “ear-rattling.” She said she and her mother scrambled under their table, fearing that Evans might begin shooting patrons. A family with three young children was sitting right in front of him.
After the final visit, she said she was sure it was Evans and contacted the Harford County sheriff’s office. Authorities said Evans spent nearly every day at the restaurant. But the Faulkners said that Evans immediately fled out a back entrance and ran around to the front of the building. Another deputy started to give Dailey medical aid, and a customer bolted after Evans, helping authorities find him at a nearby senior living center.
Rupp said she and Evans had been married and had three children before divorcing in 1989. Nearly a decade later, Rupp said she noticed Evans driving up and down her street in Aberdeen, Md. Gahler said that other law enforcement officers established a perimeter and that Evans was found in a car. From the vehicle, Evans fired at Logsdon, who had been among the first on the scene. Logsdon was hit and later died.
On Dec. 31, 1998, Rupp said she was getting into her car to go to work when she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Rupp said she went to the hospital for treatment and police investigated, finding a .22-caliber bullet in the hood of a coat she was wearing. Gahler said that Logsdon was able to return fire, shooting at least three rounds. He added that other deputies, who were coming from different directions, also opened fire and that Evans was killed.
Rupp was convinced that Evans was the shooter, although she said she never saw the person who fired the shot. Rupp said Evans disappeared soon afterward, and no one in her family knew where he was for almost two decades. Authorities found a semiautomatic handgun in Evans’s vehicle, which he might have been living in. Gahler said the initial report shows that the firearm was legally purchased in Pennsylvania in 1993.
Rupp said she left the Panera and went to a Harford sheriff’s office in Bel -Air, Md., to report Evans. Rupp said she was told to call a dispatcher, and said she explained about the shooting in 1998 and that Evans was unstable. He said that Evans did not want to be arrested — he had an outstanding Florida warrant for obstructing a police officer.
Gahler said Dailey was the first to arrive at the scene and went into the busy restaurant about noon Wednesday. He found Evans seated alone at a table and “had a discussion” with him, Gahler said.
Evans, Gahler said, “almost immediately produced a handgun” and shot the deputy in the head.
Another deputy started to give medical aid to Dailey. No one else was hurt inside the restaurant, and witnesses pointed to where Evans went after he fled. Evans ran in the direction of a senior living apartment center.
Other law enforcement officers established a perimeter, he said, and Evans was found nearby in a car. Evans fired shots from the vehicle in the direction of Logsdon, who was among the first on the scene. The shots struck Logsdon, the sheriff said.
The sheriff said Logsdon was able to return fire, firing at least three rounds. He said other deputies, who were coming in from different directions, also opened fire, and Evans was killed.
Gahler said authorities found a semiautomatic weapon in the vehicle with Evans. He said the initial report shows the gun was legally purchased in Pennsylvania in 1993, and that investigators were working to determine whether Evans possessed it legally.
He said Evans did not want to be apprehended and knew he would be because of a warrant from Florida. He said the incident is under investigation.
“It is our belief that because he knew of the warrant out for his arrest and what the ultimate outcome would be,” the sheriff said, “that’s the reason he took action.”“It is our belief that because he knew of the warrant out for his arrest and what the ultimate outcome would be,” the sheriff said, “that’s the reason he took action.”
According to the initial investigation, Gahler said, after a warrant for obstructing police was issued in October in Florida, Evans relocated to the Harford County area, where he was living. The sheriff said Evans may have been living in a car that was in the restaurant parking lot. Rupp, 67, of Aberdeen, Md., said the incident began about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, when she went to the Panera to confirm that the man was her ex-husband. When she had seen Evans in December, she thought he appeared too short, she said.
Gahler said Evans frequented the Panera nearly every day. Gahler said if the call taker or deputy had known more about the details of the situation, “they probably would have taken a more tactical response.” Rupp said she was worried by Evans resurfacing again after so many years. The Panera was close to the home of one of her three adult children with Evans, so she thought her family might be in danger.
Jeremy Evans, David Evans’s son, told WBAL-TV in Baltimore that his mother initially called the sheriff’s office about Evans being at the Panera on Monday. Jeremy Evans said his father had wounded his mother in a domestic incident about 20 years ago. Rupp said she and Evans had been married for 17 years before divorcing in 1989. She also said that Evans began driving up and down the street near her Aberdeen home about a decade later. Soon after, Rupp said, she was shot in the neck while walking to her car on Dec. 31, 1998. Rupp didn’t see her attacker, but she was convinced that it was Evans.
Rupp recovered. She said she believed that a warrant was issued for Evans in connection with her shooting. A spokeswoman for the sheriff said the office is aware of the “alleged incident but cannot confirm any details.”
In addition to the Florida warrant, Evans was wanted on a civil writ issued in Harford County for unpaid attorney’s fees, Gahler said. The fees stemmed from an earlier civil court case.
Rupp said that no one in her family had seen or heard from Evans since the 1998 shooting and that she believed he was drifting around the country.
After confirming that the man at the Panera restaurant was Evans, she left and went to a Harford sheriff’s office in Bel Air, Md., to report him. Rupp said she was told to call a dispatcher, and she explained about the 1998 shooting and said Evans was unstable.
[Son: Gunman who killed 2 deputies had emotional problems][Son: Gunman who killed 2 deputies had emotional problems]
Lynn Faulkner, 56, of Fallston, Md., said she and daughter were sitting about 15 feet away from Evans, eating brunch at the Panera, as the event unfolded. Faulkner said that Evans appeared disheveled and that she regularly saw him at the Panera. Authorities called Evans a vagrant and said that the restaurant staff took care of him, giving him a place setting with a name placard and food one day.
“The police officer came in,” Faulkner said. “I had my back to it. The officer sat down at the man’s table. I think he exchanged one sentence. That’s when he was shot and fell back in the chair.” Rupp said that before her divorce from Evans, he had been a civil engineer. She said he began drinking heavily toward the end of their marriage. She thanked the officers who died and said her thoughts went out to their families.
Faulkner said Evans immediately ran out a back entrance of the Panera and around to the front of the building. Faulkner said a customer who had witnessed the shooting bolted after Evans as he fled and called a business partner, who alerted authorities to Evans’s location. “I would say these officers were courageous and they bought my family’s safety,” Rupp said. “I am thankful they are dedicated to what they do. I will pray for these officers every day. I feel horrible.”
Faulkner said officers arrived at the scene almost immediately and put the Panera on lockdown. She said a customer tried to give CPR to the officer, who had been shot through the temple. The slain deputies were remembered as model law enforcement officers.
“It was a horror. It was a horror,” Faulkner said. “Children were crying. Strangers that didn’t know each other were hugging. You don’t expect to take your daughter to brunch at Panera on a snow day and expect a sheriff to be shot and die.” “It’s absolutely devastating to the people that wear this uniform,” Gahler at a news conference Thursday. “There are no words. These men are heroes.”
Faulkner said that Evans appeared disheveled and that she regularly saw him at the Panera restaurant. She said that Evans appeared to be homeless and that staff regularly took care of him and gave him food. Gahler choked up as he stood before about a dozen deputies wearing black bands across their badges.
Gahler said Dailey was a former Marine, who was survived by his girlfriend, mother and two sons. A Baltimore Sun article listed Dailey as one of six sheriff’s deputies and civilians who received awards for helping rescue a driver from a burning car in 2002. Outside the Panera, dozens of bouquets, teddy bears and candles were left in honor of the slain deputies. A sign on the front door said the restaurant would be closed until further notice “out of respect for our community, our associates and our law enforcement team.”
Gahler said Logsdon was an Army veteran and was survived by his wife and three children. Someone who answered the phone at his parents’ number declined to comment. Gahler said Dailey was a former Marine who is survived by his girlfriend, mother and two sons. Dailey was one of six sheriff’s deputies and civilians who received awards for helping rescue an 11-year-old child from a burning car in 2002. His family did not return calls seeking comment.
On her Facebook page, Logsdon’s daughter offered a tribute to her father. Dailey joined the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company on his 16th birthday, according to the group, which also said he was active there for 37 years. The fire department said that Dailey’s two sons also serve with the department.
“To say I am proud of you is a complete understatement,” Bethany Logsdon wrote on her page. “I am so happy for the time I had with you. I am so thankful for all of the people that you protected. You are my best friend. You are my hero. I will love you forever. I am so sad our time got cut short. I am so angry that someone took this from us. I love you.” “We are taking this time to support Pat’s family and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office,” a statement from the fire department said.
Members of the Maryland General Assembly remembered the deputies for their dedication and sacrifice at the opening of Thursday’s session. Gahler said that Logsdon was an Army veteran and is survived by his wife and three children. In 2005, Logsdon was honored for persuading a suicidal man with a shotgun to put down his weapon. Someone who answered the phone at a number for Logsdon’s parents’ home declined to comment.
“They served us, they were just two men doing their jobs. They did not see what was coming,” said Del. Richard K. Impallaria (R-Harford). “They were publicly executed for wearing a blue uniform.” Logsdon’s daughter offered a tribute to her father on her Facebook page:
Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Baltimore County) called it an “absolutely gut-wrenching” situation. “To say I am proud of you is a complete understatement,” Bethany Logsdon wrote. “I am so happy for the time I had with you. I am so thankful for all of the people that you protected. You are my best friend. You are my hero. I will love you forever. I am so sad our time got cut short. I am so angry that someone took this from us. I love you.”
“There is no doubt that yesterday will go down as one of the toughest days in Harford County history,” he said. Peter Hermann, Jennifer Jenkins, Julie Tate, Ovetta Wiggins and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.
Sen. Robert Cassilly (R-Harford) asked senators to remember the slain deputies when they consider legislation this session about police reform.
“Every encounter, they have to look at as a possible fatal encounter,” Cassilly said. “Often that little bit of tension is misunderstood by us in society.”
The Maryland Senate adjourned in honor of the two deputies.
Outside the Panera, dozens of flower bouquets, teddy bears and candles were left in honor of the two slain deputies. A sign on the front door said the restaurant would be closed until further notice “out of respect for our community, our associates and our law enforcement team.”
Maryland lost three officers in the line of duty in 2015, and Virginia lost one, according to statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
The organization, which said that 124 officers nationwide died in the line of duty in 2015, said that 42 of those officers were shot. Traffic fatalities accounted for 35 of the deaths.
Jennifer Jenkins, Julie Tate, Ovetta Wiggins and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.