Dramatic Video Captures Shooting That Left 2 Suspects Dead In Elkton
ELKTON, Md. (WJZ)—A Maryland State Police trooper is on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of two suspects at a Cecil County motel on Tuesday.
Authorities surrounded the motel around 10:00 a.m. attempting to arrest two Delaware suspects wanted on gun and drug offenses.
Investigators say SWAT team members knocked on the hotel door when one of the suspects, Brandon Jones, 25, of Dover, Delaware, pulled back the curtain, pointed a gun at them and said he had a gun.
The police officers then retreated from the door and continued to order the suspects to surrender, until they came out.
When the door opened, Jones raised the handgun and refused to obey the commands of the officers, said Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley. The officers fired on him. Seconds later, a female suspect, Chelsea Porter, 25, of Dover, Delaware, came out with a handgun and also refused orders. Police fired on her, too. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
State police say two replica handguns next to the suspects. At this time, it is believed one is a BB pistol and the other is a compressed air-powered pellet or BB gun.
The chaotic ordeal was captured just feet away by Bryan Stayathome, as a barrage of bullets ring out on the motel's second floor terrace.
Authorities have identified the Maryland State Police trooper who fired his weapon as Sergeant Michael Bonczewski, a 10-year veteran of the Maryland State Police, assigned to the Criminal Enforcement Division. He has been placed on routine administrative leave, which is procedure in police involved shootings.
New details in the investigation have revealed that three deputies from the Cecil County Sheriff's Office and six officers from the Elkton Police Department also fired their weapons during the incident.
The three deputies are identified as Deputy First Class Martin Allen, an 18-year veteran of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office, Corporal Jonathan Pristash, an 8-year veteran of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office, and Corporal Michael Zack, a 13-year veteran of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office. The deputies have been placed on routine administrative leave.
No officers were injured in the incident.
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