EDGEWOOD, Md. — A man with a lengthy criminal past who was fired from a job earlier this year for punching a colleague showed up for work at a countertop company as scheduled on Wednesday and started shooting five of his co-workers, authorities said. Three of them were killed and two critically wounded.
Less than two hours later, Radee Labeeb Prince drove to a used car lot about 55 miles (90 kilometres) away in Wilmington, Delaware, and opened fire on a man with whom he had “beefs” in the past, wounding him, police said.
The shooting rampage set off a manhunt along the Interstate 95 Northeast corridor. Police cruisers were stationed in medians, and overhead highway signs displayed a description of Prince’s sport utility vehicle and its Delaware license plate. The FBI assisted state and local authorities in the manhunt.
“This is a person with no conscience,” Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said. “He’s desperate right now.”
Authorities said it wasn’t clear why Prince open fired with a handgun on his colleagues.
Prince is a felon with 42 arrests in Delaware. Court records showed he had been fired from a Maryland job earlier this year after allegedly punching a co-worker and threatening other employees. He also faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counselling in recent years.
The rampage began Wednesday about 9 a.m. at the Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. Deputies arrived in four minutes but Prince had already fled.
Kevin Doyle of Thornhill Properties said he was getting tools from his truck when he heard screaming and saw three men running from the office park. The men told him someone was shooting and he asked if they had called 911. They said no, even though, Doyle said, they had phones in their hands.
