Authorities in Maryland were searching Sunday for a person who lured a group of seagulls to a shopping center parking lot before driving over them, killing at least 10 of the birds.

A driver lured seagulls with a bag of popcorn before running them over in a Maryland parking lot. A Laurel police officer holds one of the injured seagulls. Laurel Police Department

Officers were alerted Saturday morning to a report of possible animal cruelty in Laurel, between Washington and Baltimore, Laurel police said in a statement.

The officers discovered that a person had bought a bag of popcorn from a dollar store and emptied it in the parking lot, intentionally attracting a flock of birds, the department said.

The person then plowed through the seagulls in a car and fled, the statement said.

Authorities provided no other information about the suspect.

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The department posted photos Sunday on its Facebook page of an officer with an injured bird whose wing had been broken. The officer took the bird to a wildlife rescue center to have the wing mended, the department said.