By Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) A Queen Anne County Sheriff’s Deputy is in critical condition after being shot responding to a domestic violence call. The suspect is dead.
The exchange of gunfire happened early Thursday morning when Deputy Warren Scott Hogan went inside a home on Edmore Road in Chestertown, Maryland with suspect James Rich II’s girlfriend. She called police Thursday night and said she and Rich had a physical altercation, and she wanted a deputy to accompany her to his home to get her clothes.
When they got inside the home, the woman and Rich started arguing. Police said Rich got a shotgun and fired at Hogan who shot back. The deputy was hit in the torso right below his bulletproof vest.
“A close range shotgun blast is a devastating injury,” said Dr. Thomas Scalea who is treating Hogan at the University of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Hogan underwent surgery this morning but remains in critical condition. Scalea said it will take weeks, maybe even months for Hogan to recover.
“A lot of our guys have been up there. We were there when he first woke up out of surgery. He looks like he’s in good spirits as best as he can be for the traumatic even that occurred,” said Queen Anne County Sheriff Gary Hoffman at a press conference.
Rich was taken to the Chester River Hospital early Friday morning and pronounced dead.
The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit is investigating the deputy-involved shooting and is searching the home.
Part of the investigation will be the review of footage from a body camera Hogan was wearing. That footage will not be released to the public.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff/ Facebook)
