The Frederick, Maryland, police on Tuesday afternoon identified the Navy corpsman who shot two people at a tech park Tuesday morning before being shot and killed at nearby Fort Detrick.
Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando identified the shooter as E-4 Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet, 38, who lived in Frederick but not on the base. He added that the two who were wounded were also members of the Navy stationed at Fort Detrick.
The shooting was reported at about 8:30 a.m. in the Riverside Tech Park, on Progress Drive not far from Monocacy Boulevard, in “a warehouse rented by Naval Medical Research Center, Biological Defense Research Directorate to store research supplies and equipment,” the city said in a statement later Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Michael Talley, of Fort Detrick, said that security at the fort had received an alert to be on the lookout for Woldesenbet’s personal vehicle. When he pulled up, they pulled him over, but before they could search his vehicle, he drove off, Talley said.
Before he could be searched, the general added, Woldesenbet drove past the gate, made it a half-mile in, was pursued and then stopped in a parking lot. He got out of the car brandishing a rifle, Talley said, and was shot there.
Lando said one of the two victims remains in critical condition. The other was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Neither Lando or Talley would provide any more information on Woldesenbet’s actions or motivations, including his job, whether he knew the two victims or why he headed back to the base.
“(I) don’t know his mental status at the time, and we’re certainly going to find all that out,” Talley said.
Talley said the facility where the shooting took place was not under his command and declined to describe the work that was done there. Fort Detrick is home to the military’s flagship biological defense laboratory and several federal civilian biodefense labs. About 10,000 military personnel and civilians work on the base.
As part of its investigation, police cordoned off Woldesenbet’s garden-style apartment building in Frederick City, a few miles from the site of the shooting. Frederick police Lt. Andrew Alcorn said the crime scene unit recovered multiple items from Woldesenbet’s apartment, but he declined to categorize them.
Alcorn also said Woldesenbet’s wife was at the apartment, and she brought in for questioning.
Maryland State Police are assisting with the investigation. Special agents and a K-9 team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene.
ATF Special Agents and K-9 team are responding to a critical incident in Fredrick, MD to assist our law enforcement partners. More information will be provided by the lead investigating agency when available. pic.twitter.com/27HyLhT8jh
— ATF Baltimore (@ATFBaltimore) April 6, 2021
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
