Just before 10:30, Tuesday morning crews responded to the parking lot of Smyrna Middle School located at 700 Duck Creek Pkwy.in Smyrna for reports of a shooting.
Initial reports from the scene indicate the one person, not a student, was shot multiple times and succumbed at the scene. The Superintendent of the Smyrna-Clayton School District sent out a robocall alerting parents that a person was shot in the parking lot of the Smyrna Middle School. He went on to tell parents that no students were involved and that the school was on lockdown as a precaution.
Shortly after officials began arriving at the scene many of them quickly left the scene to join a pursuit of the shooting suspect. It’s not clear where the pursuit started, however, the chase made its way down Route 13 into Dover. It continued west on Route 8 before traveling into Maryland.
Once across the state line, Maryland authorities joined in the chase and began alerting officers ahead of them. Maryland dispatchers alerted their officers that the suspect was wanted for a domestic-related murder out of Smyrna. As the chase progressed through Barclay, then Chestertown officers began reporting that the subject was running other cars off the road.
The suspect continued through Chestertown along Flatland Road before heading north on Maryland 298. The chase continued on to Maryland 213. As the suspect approached the town of Galena dispatchers alerted officers that area schools had been placed on lockdown. Officers then prepared to lay down stop sticks just south of Galena.
Just as those reports came out officers reported a 10-50, Maryland’s police code for a crash. It’s not clear if the suspect hit the stop sticks. As the officers approached the vehicle they reported that it had struck a tree and that the suspect was on foot. A Delaware State Police helicopter that had been calling the chase for ground officers from the beginning began to search the wooded area near the road. As officers approached the vehicle they found the suspect inside and reported that he was suffering from a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound. The suspect was then life-flighted to a Baltimore-area hospital by Maryland’s Trooper 6.
