Three killed in mass shooting at Maryland factory

Three people are dead and another critically injured after a gunman opened fire on a factory in the state of Maryland.

The attack took place in a factory, reports said. Picture: WUSA9

Three people were killed and multiple wounded, including a police officer, during a “mass shooting” at a factory in Maryland on Thursday, police said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of an active shooter around 2:30pm at Columbia Machine in Smithsburg, near the Pennsylvania border.

Police arrived on scene and found four victims — three were dead inside and one was “critically injured” in a field outside of the facility. The gunman had fled before they arrived, cops said.

Three people were killed and multiple wounded, including a police officer, during a mass shooting at a factory in Maryland. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The sheriff’s department released a description of the suspect and his vehicle was located shortly after by Maryland State Police a few miles away.

The suspect and a state trooper exchanged gunfire and both were wounded, the sheriff’s department said.

Both were transported to area hospitals for treatment, police said. Their conditions are unknown.

Police said there “is no confirmed active threat to the community in relation to this incident”.

Police shot the suspect at the scene. Picture: WUSA9

All four victims found at the scene and the gunman were employees at the factory, Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said at a press conference Thursday evening.

The three killed were identified as Mark Alan Frey, 50; Charles Edward Minnick, 31; and Joshua Robert Wallace, 30, the sheriff said. The man found critically wounded outside was Brandon Chase Michael, 42.

The gunman was identified only as a 23-year-old man from West Virginia. He has not been named because he has not been formally charged, but police are “currently in the process of doing that,” Douglas said.

After realising the suspect had fled, the sheriff’s department released a description of the suspect and his vehicle. A vehicle matching the description was quickly located a few miles away by Maryland State Police heading towards the scene.

The suspect and a state trooper exchanged gunfire and both were wounded, the sheriff’s department said.

The shooting took place in Smithsburg, Maryland.

“When the troopers went to stop the vehicle, the suspect immediately started firing off rounds at the troopers,” said Bill Dofflemyer of the Maryland State Police Criminal Investigation Bureau. “The troopers returned fire, striking the suspect. During the course of gunfire, one trooper did receive an injury.”

Both were transported to area hospitals for treatment, where the suspect is in police custody.

“The trooper is doing well and the suspect is continuing to be treated,” Dofflemeyer said.

The gunman used a semiautomatic handgun in the killings, which was recovered from his vehicle, police said. It remains unclear what led to the shooting.

Police investigated the contents of a car at the scene. Picture: Fox 5 DC

“The motive for the shooting has also not been determined at this time,” Mullendore said.

The Baltimore division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said that agents were dispatched to the scene. The Federal Bureau of Investigations also responded to assist in the investigation, police said.

The incident is the latest mass shooting in the U.S., just two weeks after 19 fourth graders and two teachers were killed by a shooter at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and less than a month after 10 Black people were murdered in a race-fuelled shooting at a Buffalo supermarket.

This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission

Originally published as Three killed in mass shooting at Maryland factory