PORT DEPOSIT, Md. — The distinct sound of gunfire just after midnight on Saturday evening alerted neighbors in a remote area of Port Deposit that something was amiss.
“I heard two loud gunshots and I mean it was loud,” said Krystle McGonigle who lives across the street, “I clearly made out that this was gunshots. This was not ordinary.”
Police had responded to a report that a man had notified neighbors his house on Twin Lakes Road was in the process of being burglarized.
When deputies and a trooper arrived on the scene they found a broken door and an empty shotgun case inside.
RELATED: MSP: Trooper, two deputies shot while responding to burglary in Port Deposit
“Two of the sheriff’s deputies and the trooper cleared the residence and went into the backyard,” said Elena Russo of the Maryland State Police, “and that’s when they were fired upon by this suspect who after firing at all three of them and striking them, fled into the wood line.”
About four hours after the manhunt began, police received a telephone call alerting them to a man acting suspiciously at this convenience store about three-quarters of a mile from the shooting scene.
The man, later identified as 23-year-old Daniel Donnelly, had been asking people for rides.
Police took him into custody and later learned that he had gone to the house to kill a man who wasn’t home at the time.
He allegedly then posed as the homeowner reporting the burglary to neighbors so he could kill police officers instead.
“No one is safe at that point,” said McGonigle, “If the cops can get it, any civilian, anyone can get hurt so you do feel afraid.”
All three officers were treated and released for multiple buck shot wounds fired from the stolen 12-gauge shotgun.
