Brandon man fatally shot in Maryland domestic situation

By: 
Deborah Weiner WBAL-TV 11 News Anchor, I-Team Reporter
Three people were fatally shot May 7 in a house in Brookeville, Md., including a Brandon man, Danny Murphy. Three others were able to escape and the suspect was found dead hours later, Montgomery County police said.
 
Police were called around 3:44 p.m. Monday for a possible domestic situation involving a person with a gun. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said 911 call-takers could hear gunshots in the background of some of the calls they were receiving.
 
“First responders came to the scene, they located multiple fatalities and backed out of the house believing it was not safe,” Montgomery County police Capt. Paul Starks said.
 
Manger said authorities found three adults fatally shot in the house, but they weren’t the only ones in the house.
 
“Officers learned that three other adults who had also been at the home at the time of the shooting had been able to escape from the home unharmed. One of those adults was the suspect’s wife,” Manger said.
 
Police said the suspect, Christopher Wilson Snyder, 41, fled to his house across the street.
 
Police tweeted at 5:48 p.m. that residents in the area should shelter in place. At 10:50 p.m., Starks said people were still being asked to remain in their homes.
 
Montgomery County police officers, Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies, Montgomery County fire and rescue crews and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were all at the scene through the night. Tactical units and negotiators were also brought to the scene.
 
Police said negotiators were speaking via telephone with the suspect, who refused to come out.
 
“The negotiators began talking to Snyder over the phone in an attempt to get him to surrender,” Manger said. ‘Those negotiations went on for several hours.”
 
Tactical officers ultimately forced their way into the house around 11 p.m.
 
“When they breached the front door, the suspect was on the phone with negotiators. He asked the negotiator, ‘Did they just break in to the front door?’ and then hung up the phone. At that point, officers who were outside the home heard a single gunshot,” Manger said.
 
Manger said Snyder was found deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
 
Police said they believe Snyder went to the victims’ home because his wife escaped to a neighbor’s house. She told police she was being “held by him” over the weekend.
 
“She reports that she had been held by her husband over the weekend and took an opportunity to run out of the house and run into the neighbor’s house,” Manger said.
 
The tactical team was searching the rest of the house because, during the negotiations, police learned that there could be explosives and several guns inside the house, Manger said.
 
Manger said the suspect is known to police.
 
“We’ve had contact with this suspect in the past over a number of different issues,” Manger said.

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