Delaware

Suspect in Maryland, Delaware Shooting Spree Captured; 3 Dead

The man suspected of shooting six people, killing three of them, was caught in Newark, Delaware

A sweeping multistate manhunt that kept the Mid-Atlantic region on high alert for more than 10 hours ended when law enforcement officers on foot chased down a man they say shot six people, killing three, in two separate shootings.

Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, was captured on foot along Four Seasons Parkway near Clover Mill Drive in Newark, Delaware, about 7 p.m., police said.

He shot five of his co-workers at a granite company about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore just before 9 a.m., police said. Three of them died. 

Harford County police identified the victims as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Arlington, Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland.

Prince then drove to Wilmington, where he shot an acquaintance in the head and body at a used car lot, NBC Philadelphia reports that Wilmington police said. The second shooting occurred about 10:45 a.m.

Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said in a news conference Wednesday night police found Prince's SUV, a black 2000 GMC Acadia, about 5:35 p.m. near Glasgow High School in Newark. Police then received a tip Prince had been seen walking toward the school from the SUV.

Officers convened on the area and took him into custody less than 2 hours later. During a brief foot chase, Prince threw down a gun, Tracy said. 

"I believe he was walking down the street and then when our ATF agents, we were doing a search throughout the neighborhood...when he saw that they had spotted him, he actually took off running, threw the gun and they were able to apprehend him about 75 feet later and recover the gun where he threw it," Tracy said.

Tracy said Prince didn't injure any officers or anyone else during the chase and arrest.

"I even get chills talking about it because I know what it's like when we do hunt individuals that are desperate," Tracy said. 

Tracy said the attacks were targeted and Prince knew each of his victims. 

"This is a person with no conscience," he said.

Prince was expected at his job at Advanced Granite Solutions on Wednesday morning. 

"It was scheduled to be a regular workday," the county sheriff said. Instead, police say Prince opened fire, using a handgun to shoot five coworkers in the head. 

A witness to the aftermath of the shooting, Kevin Doyle, said he was getting tools from his truck when he heard screaming and saw three men running from the office park. The men told him someone was shooting. He asked if they had called 911. They said no, even though they had phones in their hands.

"I think they were just so scared they didn't [call 911]. They had a look of terror,'' he said.

Officers were called to the workplace, in the Emmorton Business Park on the 2100 block of Emmorton Park Road, at 8:58 a.m, police said. 

Officers arrived within four minutes, Gahler said.

In addition to the three people who died, two people were rushed to University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. They were in critical condition Wednesday night.

Prince has been an employee of Advanced Granite Solutions for four months, working as a machine operator, owner Barak Caba told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview. Caba was shaken and would not provide additional details.

Less than two hours after his first attack, Prince drove to a used car lot about 55 miles away in Wilmington, and opened fire on a man with whom Tracy said Prince had "beefs" in the past. The man was wounded but survived and identified Prince to police.

Investigators said the gunman's motive is under investigation. Investigators are treating the shooting as a case of workplace violence and did not see ties to terrorism, said Dave Fitz, a spokesman for the Baltimore FBI field office.

Prince is a felon with 42 arrests in Delaware. He also faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counseling in recent years.

Prince was fired from another job earlier this year after he attacked a coworker, The Baltimore Sun reports that a restraining order says. The coworker told officials Prince punched him in the face in February, was fired and then returned to threaten employees four times.

At one point, his former boss Philip Siason told the court: "He came to see me, cursed and yelled at me about unemployment benefits. I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me." Saison said he "didn't want to wait'' until Prince became physically violent, and noted his prior gun charge as a reason for feeling particularly afraid of the man. 

A Harford County District Court judge denied the request for the order and said the worker “could not meet the required burden of proof," the Sun reported. 

Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off Advanced Granite Solutions on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators, deputies and federal agents fanned out across the business park to investigate.

Across the road, several employees, some wearing lime green T-shirts with the Advanced Granite Solutions logo, embraced each other as they waited for news about their colleagues. The sheriff said the department had set up a receiving area for family members in the Richlin Ballroom at a nearby hotel.

A number of Harford County Public Schools in the area were on a "modified lockdown" for hours. Students and staff were told to stay in the buildings, with no outdoor activities. 

According to online court records, Prince lived in Elkton — about 35 miles from the shooting scene — as recently as last month.

"The First Lady and I ask that all Marylanders join with us in praying for the victims, their loved ones, and those still fighting to live," Hogan said.

No information about Prince's legal counsel was immediately available.

Advanced Granite Solutions is fundraising for the families of the victims using a GoFundMe page.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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