One person is dead and another is in the hospital after a shooting Wednesday in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that involved a Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy.
It happened just after 9 a.m. along Garth Terrace, which is near the intersection of Maryland Route 355 and Watkins Mill Road.
Sheriff Darren Popkin said the Capitol Area Fugitive Task Force — which included U.S. Marshals and county sheriff’s deputies — was there to serve a warrant for a man wanted for not appearing in court in connection with a 2020 home invasion.
When they arrived, the 35-year-old tried to escape through a window, he said. He was armed with a knife.
“He was running after them with full speed with the knife,” Popkin said, adding that authorities tried to give him space. Authorities tried and failed to subdue him with a Taser, he said, before the deputy fired.
“The only way to maintain life and safety of the people that were around was to unfortunately use a deadly force,” Popkin said.
In addition to the suspect, another man sustained a superficial wound as he tried to get the suspect to surrender. He has since been treated and released.
No officers were hurt. The deputy who fired the shots is an eight-year veteran who has served on the task force for several years, Popkin said.
“This particular federal task force does not have body-worn cameras on them,” Popkin said, “and so there is no body-worn camera footage of this. But there are some independent witnesses who did see the entire incident that are cooperating with the investigation.”
The FBI will handle the shooting investigation.
The area of the shooting is shown in the map below.
