BALTIMORE – Four people died and one was injured in a shooting and explosion in a townhouse neighborhood in Woodlawn Saturday, including the alleged gunman, who Baltimore County Police said they killed.
Neighbors called 911 to report a fire and the armed man in the 7300 block of Maury Road, and officers and firefighters arrived together about 6:40 a.m. to find the man outside the burning homes, county police spokeswoman Joy Stewart said.
“That threat was neutralized,” Stewart said Saturday at the scene. “At that point, firefighters were able to address the fire.”
In addition to the alleged gunman, two men and a woman died in the incident, and fourth man is being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a hospital, police said.
The names of those killed were not released Saturday. The officer or officers who shot the man also were not immediately identified.
Kweku Quansah, 51, said he heard an explosion and came outside to check what was going on. He said he saw his neighbor’s house was on fire and then saw the gunman walking between cars firing shots.
“He was shooting towards us,” Quansah said. “And then I saw a lady on the ground. He turned and shot the lady again on the ground.”
Quansah said he has been a resident in the Parkview Crossing neighborhood for 23 years and said what took place Saturday morning was “not surprising” — it was just a matter of when.
“It was like a ticking bomb,” he said.
Residents said the gunman lived in the community and had threatened and confronted neighbors, accusing them of spying on him for the federal government.
Quansah said he reported the suspect to police in the past.
“We don’t know why he was doing that but this has been going on over and over again,” Quansah said. “A lot of people tried to complain about it but nothing was done.”
“I was like, ‘Do you all want him to commit a crime before you guys come out to help us?’ and they (police) said, ‘Yes, that is the Maryland law.’”
Ranjith Ravindiran and his wife, also were witnesses. The couple said the alleged shooter was going door to door with a gun.
“It still could have been much worse today,” Ranjith Ravindiran said.
Ravindiran, 50, first moved into the townhome community in 2005. He kept his family away from the man’s home, which was located just down the street.
Ravindiran said the alleged gunmen had a red truck outside his home with a sign saying he was being watched by the FBI. Ravindiran said the man had constantly threatened people in the neighborhood for years and yelled at people on the street.
“Everyone knew he was a problem,” Ravindiran said during an interview.
Tim Rostkowski, a county fire department spokesman, said the 2-alarm blaze collapsed two houses and damaged a third.
