CONOWINGO, Md. — Reports came out on Tuesday afternoon of a fire in a single-wide modular home on Mount Zoar Road in Conowingo and a shooting at the larger house next door.
“When troopers arrived on scene they met a suspect and he was standing in the doorway and he surrendered to troopers,” said Ngan Ho of the Maryland State Police, “Also at the scene, they found a man, a victim, who had gunshot wounds. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Investigators would soon learn that the shooting victim may well have been the aggressor leading up to the shooting.
Family members tell WMAR-2 News that his parents had provided 53-year-old Joe Berry, Junior with the trailer on their property to live in as he struggled with alcoholism.
On Tuesday, they say Berry confronted his parents at their home in a drunken rage, knocking his 78-year-old mother to the floor where she struck her head.
He then ran back to his home and apparently set it on fire before returning to his parent's home, but they had bolted the front door and refused to open it fearing for their safety.
When he kicked in the glass outer door and forced his way inside, they say his father had no choice, but to shoot him in self defense.
A rare case in which the shooting suspect also turns out to be a victim.
“He surrendered, Jeff, and at this time, I know that there are no charges filed,” said Ho.
And an aging couple determined to help their son had to use deadly force to save their own lives.
