Wanted Delaware Couple Killed in Police Shooting at Maryland Motel

A man and woman wanted by Delaware State Police was fatally shot on a Maryland motel balcony Tuesday after emerging from their room with BB guns raised toward police who were there to serve warrants, officials said.

No officers were hurt during the confrontation Tuesday at the New Eastern Inn in Elkton, a city of 15,000 about 45 miles northeast of Baltimore, state police spokesman Greg Shipley said.

Maryland State Police say the Dover couple, identified as Brandon Jones and Chelsea Porter, was on the run from gun charges when police approached them at a Cecil County motel to serve arrest warrants. 

"The Delaware State Police had contacted Maryland State Police yesterday, requesting assistance in the location of these two fugitives," Shipley told reporters. "And the state apprehension team took that investigation over and tracked them to this location."

Shipley said the couple, both 25, pointed what police believed were handguns at the officers and repeatedly refused to follow orders to drop them and surrender. Authorities later said the pair was armed with BB guns.

He said uniformed officers from two agencies went to the motel about 10 a.m., knocked on the door of the second-floor room and announced themselves as police officers.

As they shouted at the room's occupants to surrender, one of the officers saw through a window that a man was approaching the door with a handgun, Shipley said. He said the officers retreated from the door but the man came out and refused to obey their commands. The man raised the gun at officers and they fired, Shipley said.

He said the woman came out a few seconds later with a handgun that she raised. She was also shot after refusing to drop the weapon, Shipley said.

He said investigators don't yet know which officers fired the fatal shots or how many times they fired.

The shooting brought a large number of police to the area and prompted road closures. Reporters at the scene could see what appeared to be a body on the balcony, covered by a yellow sheet.

Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said his agency had asked Maryland State Police to help find a man and woman, who were wanted in connection with an incident on Oct. 18. The man had fired one round from a handgun into the air after threatening to shoot someone, Delaware State Police said in a press release Sunday.

The press release said officers had found about 2,100 small bags of heroin and more than two pounds of marijuana at the man's home, along with $2,700 in cash, a .22-caliber rifle and three handguns, one of which had been reported stolen in 2016.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us