Two Frederick County Sheriff’s Office deputies are on administrative leave after an officer-involved shooting early this morning left a home invasion suspect dead.
Around 1 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office Special Services Team detonated a “flash bang” device to gain entry into the two-bedroom apartment of Daniel Vail, 19, in Mt. Airy.
Vail, who was one of the suspects in the home invasion robbery, was in one of the bedrooms and pointed a shotgun toward the deputies, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies made several commands directing Vail to put down the gun, but he did not comply. Two of the sheriff’s team members fired numerous rounds from their issued handguns striking Vail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police took Vail’s 46-year-old mother in for questioning and she was later released.
After the shooting, Frederick County Bureau of Investigation investigators secured the residence until they could obtain a search warrant.
Around 6 a.m. this morning, Frederick County and Howard County investigators along with Sheriff’s Office evidence technicians began processing the scene.
Evidence technicians recovered numerous shell casings and will be working with investigators to determine the number of shots fired by the involved deputies.
Deputies Charles Zang, a 15-year veteran of the office, and Kevin Riffle, a 7-year veteran of the office, were identified as the involved officers and have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Vail’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore and an autopsy will be completed tomorrow.
In June 2005, Zang shot and killed Charles Nobel Sines at his Araby Church home after Sines refused to drop his shotgun.
