The man who shot and wounded two police officers in Frederick County, Maryland, Friday afternoon has been identified and charged with attempted murder.
In a news release early Saturday morning, Maryland State Police said Dominique Lamarr Lewis, 25, of Hampton, Virginia, was charged with two counts of attempted first and second-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Lewis and City of Frederick police officers Bryan Snyder, 43, and Kristen Kowalsky, 32, were all shot at Key Parkway and Waverley Drive, near the Frederick Towne Mall, at about 12:45 p.m., Police Chief Jason Lando said at a news conference Friday.
The two officers arrived at the scene after a 911 call reported a suspicious person with a gun. According to Maryland State police, the officers found Lewis sitting on an electrical box with a gun. When officers asked him to show his hands, Lewis ignored their requests.
Police say Lewis began to walk away from the two officers when he “abruptly turned around and fired multiple rounds” using a .45 caliber handgun. Both officers returned fire with their department issued Glock pistols. Emergency crews found all three with gunshot wounds and took them to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. A motive remains unknown.
Snyder, who has been with the force for two years, and Kowalsky, a nine-year veteran of the department, left the hospital and returned home just before midnight, a city police department spokesperson told WTOP.
During the press conference, Dr. Thomas Scalea of Shock Trauma said all three were all shot in the torso. He was “hopeful everyone’s going to be OK. You never know until everything is done, but we are optimistic.”
“It’s a tough time to be a police officer,” Lando added, pointing to the situation as an example of the dangers officers face.
Mayor Michael O’Connor agreed: “Today, we experienced … the true dangers officers face all over the country,” he said, adding that “in just a few short hours, we are overwhelmed by the support we see” from residents in the city as well as neighboring communities and police departments.
Lewis remains in the hospital receiving treatment for his injuries and remains under police guard, according to Maryland State Police said.
Lando said the Maryland Attorney General and state police are handling the investigation, as is typical in police shootings.
Scalea said that by the time Snyder, Kowalsky and Lewis arrived at Shock Trauma, they’d already admitted five gunshot patients that day.
“That’s nuts,” the doctor said, “that there is too much violence in the city and the state. We really pride ourselves on doing a good job [but] … It’s so demoralizing to do this day after day.”
Frederick Public Schools had seven schools on lockout status, which ended at about 2:20 p.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
