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A gunman opened fire inside a private business in Smithsburg, Maryland, killing at least three people and leaving one person with critical injuries, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
The latest: Authorities said at a news briefing that all four shooting victims at the Columbia Machine warehouse and the suspect were Columbia Manufacturing employees.
- Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore at the briefing named those killed as 50-year-old Mark Alan Frey, 31-year-old Charles Edward Minnick and 30-year-old Joshua Robert Wallace.
Details: Mullendore said the shooter opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun about 2:30pm ET at Columbia Machine, a parts manufacturing company in Smithsburg.
- After the shooting at the manufacturing facility, the suspect fled but was later pursued and confronted by Maryland State Police, according to the sheriff's office.
- During the confrontation, the suspect allegedly shot at and injured a trooper, who then returned fire and injured him. Both the trooper and the suspect were transported for medical treatment.
- The shooter's motive and condition were not immediately unknown. His name was not immediately disclosed because he had yet to be charged.
The big picture: Smithsburg is a town of roughly 3,000 around 75 miles northwest of Baltimore.
- The mass shooting in Smithsburg comes after a deadly weekend, during which 11 people were killed and 54 were injured in other mass shootings across the country.
- A total of 35 people were killed in mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month, intensifying calls on Congress and the Biden administration to pass new gun control legislation.
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