A Baltimore County police officer has died after a confrontation in Perry Hall, and police are searching for at least one suspect, authorities said.
Police would not confirm the injuries suffered by the officer, a four-year veteran assigned to the Parkville precinct. A witness saw the officer, whose name has not been released, get run over by a vehicle.
The incident began to unfold just before 2 p.m., when police received a call for a suspicious vehicle on Linwen Way, police spokesman Cpl. Shawn Vinson said.
A female officer who went to the area encountered suspects and was “critically injured,” Vinson said, without offering any details.
She was taken to MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 2:50 p.m., Vinson said.
A home on Linwen Way had damage to a patio door, though police don’t yet know if that was the same home where the call to police was made. “There may have been a burglary in progress,” Vinson said.
“We are actively following up several leads,” Vinson said.
Gov. Larry Hogan offered his condolences in a post on Twitter.
“The suspect who committed this terrible crime remains at large, and [Maryland State Police] are assisting Baltimore County Police in their search,” Hogan said. “The state stands ready to provide any and all resources necessary to capture this individual and bring them to justice.”
Vinson said he could not confirm whether the officer had been shot, and that information may not be available until an autopsy is performed.
Councilman David Marks said police informed him the officer was shot Monday afternoon while investigating “suspicious activity” near Bel Air and Klausmier roads in Perry Hall.
“It’s a densely populated area with a lot of stream valleys and places where people can hide,” said Marks, who lives nearby. “My heart just goes out to the family of this police officer who has been taken from us.”
County police said residents near the area should shelter in place.
“Motorists should avoid Belair Road from Forge Road to Ebenezer Road,” the department said. “#BCoPD is searching for an armed suspect.”
Four elementary schools — Perry Hall, Seven Oaks, Gunpowder and Carney — were on “alert status” and not dismissed as normal, police said. “Alert status” means all exterior doors are monitored and outdoor activities are suspended.
Police asked parents not to try to go to the schools, but to call administrators for answers.
The manhunt set off fears in the surrounding area.
A county police officer with a long gun peered into the woods at Gunview Road near Oak White Road, while a long line of neighbors sat in their idling cars at a roadblock.
Heather Cummins, 54, lives nearby and was anxious to get home to her 80-year-old father, who was home alone.
“It’s not that it’s an inconvenience,” she said. “It’s the concern that someone’s on the loose and we’ve lost the life of a precious police officer.”
Jackie McDaniel, 73, who lives in the Red Fox Farm neighborhood, said she had left to buy milk around 1 p.m. She called her sister, who was still at their home, when she heard about the shooting.
“All these police passed me on the Beltway,” she said. “I called my sister and told her, ‘Do not answer the buzzer. Do not let anyone in.’ We’re in a locked-entry building, but you never know.”
This story will be updated.
Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Meehan contributed to this article.
