Washington, April 7 : A US Navy medic shot and critically injured two people at an industrial park in the state of Maryland, before heading to a nearby military base, where he was killed by the personnel there, authorities said.
Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando told a news briefing that police responded to a shooting incident at around 8.20 a.m. on Tuesday at Riverside Tech Park, where the 38-year-old male suspect opened fire, striking two men and causing others to flee, reports Xinhua news agency.
It was not yet clear whether the shooting happened inside or outside the industrial park.
The suspect then drove ato Fort Detrick, a military installation that houses most elements of the US Army’s biological defence program, where he was fatally shot by “personnel on the base”, Lando said.
“We have two different scenes. All I can tell you is that we have confirmed there is only one shooter. The public is no longer at risk. Everyone is safe,” the Police Chief added.
The US Navy confirmed on Twitter that the shooter was a Navy Hospital Corpsman, and that sailors were involved during the encounter.
The two victims in the shooting suffered life-threatening injuries and were flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, police said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was still too early to give further details.
“We still don’t have all the facts right now. Information is still coming in,” he said.
Several schools in the Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) system were “briefly placed on lockout status”.
“All students and staff are safe. The lockout has been lifted,” the FCPS added.
Frederick Community College (FCC) told students to follow a “lockdown alert” in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, saying later in an updated tweet that students can “return to normal operations”.
“The incident has been contained. There is no threat on FCC campus”.(IANS)
