Maryland officer run over, killed in line of duty: witnesses

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Rifle-toting police swarmed into a Baltimore suburb where a female officer was fatally injured Monday, searching for suspects believed to be armed after witnesses reported hearing a pop and seeing the officer run over by a Jeep.

The witnesses in a leafy community of suburban homes where the officer was injured described seeing her on the ground, badly hurt. Several people tried to keep her alive, but she was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Tony Kurek told The Associated Press his adult son was outside in the family's yard Monday afternoon in the northeast Baltimore County community of Perry Hall when the son saw the officer with her gun drawn, confronting the occupants of a Jeep.

"The next thing he heard was a pop, and he saw the Jeep take off and run right over her," Kurek said.

Logan Kurek, who is a volunteer firefighter, said he heard his younger brother "frantically screaming" and ran outside to perform CPR.

The officer was responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle when she encountered at least one suspect and was "critically injured," police spokesman Cpl. Shawn Vinson said.

The deadly encounter may have begun as a burglary in progress, said Vinson, who added that one home on the block had some damage to a patio door.

Police said it was too soon to know how the officer was fatally injured.

"What exactly happened we are not sure yet until an autopsy is performed," Vinson said at a press conference Monday. He said he had no immediate information about her fatal injuries, or whether she had fired her own weapon.

Neighbors called authorities and tried to save her, Vinson confirmed, but she was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital.

Kurek's neighbor, Dahle Amendt, said he had just settled into his recliner for a rest when he heard a woman's voice outside his house.

"I heard, 'Get out of the car!' 'Get out of the car!' Get out of the car!' at least three times, and then a pop," Amendt said.

Amendt said his wife also ran outside and tried to revive the officer, to no avail.

"This is a shock. It's a quiet community. It's just so sad," Amendt said.

Vinson said the family of the officer, who would have been a four-year veteran in July, has been notified, but police didn't immediately identify her.

Officers were searching the area Monday night for suspects "who we believe are armed and dangerous," Police Chief Terrence Sheridan said

Investigators urged residents in a sizable swath of Perry Hall to stay hunkered down inside their homes and lock all doors and windows as officers search the community fringed with woodlands

Three elementary schools remained on alert status Monday night, with students and teachers told to stay in their school buildings as police continued a search for the suspects. The students were being served dinner, said Julie Henn, a member of the Baltimore County Board of Education.

She said the students and teachers will remain there until "police feel it's safe" for them to leave.

At a gas station located at a cordoned-off intersection in Perry Hall, some residents gathered to watch three helicopters of TV news crews buzzing over the neighborhood. An unmarked car with law enforcers, including one officer cradling a rifle in the back seat, drove past and was waved through by police manning the intersection.

Heavily armed officers with a trained canine also could be seen scrambling across backyards and checking nearby woods in the leafy community. A pair of officers elsewhere, with guns drawn, entered a home's front door as they scoured the neighborhood.

"The cop cars just keep coming. It's pretty scary," said Sukvir Singh, an employee of the gas station.

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Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie and Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.