WASHINGTON — Howard County police officers shot and killed a man who they claimed violently attacked them Saturday in Elkridge, Maryland.
Police received a 911 call around 9 a.m. from a woman who said her estranged husband, William Tucker Mathis, was attempting to break into her home in the 6300 block of Woodland Forest Drive, Sherry Llewellyn with the Howard County Police told WTOP.
The woman told dispatchers she had a protective order against Mathis, 41, of no fixed address, and she believed he was using PCP, Llewellyn said.
“The call-taker heard her screaming and then drop the phone,” Llewellyn said.
Three officers arrived at the scene shortly after, where they found a glass door in the back of the house had been shattered, Llewellyn said. Once the officers were inside, Mathis got into a physical fight with them.
“One of our officers was strangled [and] another hit his head pretty hard,” she said.
During the altercation, the officers shot Mathis, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Llewellyn said.
Two of the three officers were being treated at a local hospital for serious, but non-life threatening injuries Saturday, she said.
The woman and her three small children, who were also inside the home, were not injured, Llewellyn said.
WTOP’s John Domen contributed to this report.
