The assault appeared to be well-planned and carried out with cold precision. Loya, who turned 31 Thursday, had set fire to a car blocking the single road to the secluded Sea Watch Village complex, and had deployed a number of “incendiary devices” in the snow as hazards.

Shortly after the women were shot in their Bourne condominium, the alleged gunman, Adrian Loya, opened fire on police, hitting one officer in the back, authorities said. Loya, armed with three rifles and a handgun, pinned officers down with a hail of gunfire for 15 minutes before he surrendered in the condo complex just before 3 a.m.

BOURNE — A heavily armed man shot two women who served with him in the US Coast Guard, killing one, before ambushing police officers who had rushed to the scene of the attack early Thursday morning, authorities said.


The explosions and gunshots woke neighbors, who were left struggling to make sense of the attack.

“I didn’t want to believe it,’’ said Paula Dunn, who saw one of the women taken out on a stretcher. “They were two very sweet girls, and I don’t understand why this happened.”

At an arraignment in Falmouth District Court Thursday afternoon, Loya pleaded not guilty to murder charges, and was held without bail. He wore hospital scrubs during the brief proceedings, and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

The motive behind the fatal assault remained unknown. Loya’s lawyer, J. Drew Segadelli, said Loya had “some relationship” with at least one of the women. He was assigned to a Coast Guard base in Virginia, and checked into a nearby Bourne hotel Tuesday evening, according to a hotel manager.

Police believed Loya had traveled to the Cape to attack the women because of a prior disagreement with at least one of them, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.


The injured police officer, Jared MacDonald, was in recovery from surgery Thursday, and his condition had improved, police said. A veteran of the Bourne Police Department for more than 10 years, MacDonald lay bleeding in the cold for 15 minutes before he could be helped. MacDonald was wearing a bulletproof vest but was struck below it, police said.

The surviving woman was also being treated at an area hospital.

Authorities did not identify the two women, who were attacked during what Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe described as a “home invasion.” Neighbors said the women were in their mid-to-late 20s and were often seen walking their Yorkshire Terrier, Linkoln.

Loya and both women were active-duty members of the Coast Guard, said Petty Officer Myeonghi Clegg, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard’s Boston headquarters. She said the women were assigned to a Coast Guard base on Cape Cod.

“Today the Coast Guard family suffered a tragic loss,” said Rear Admiral Linda Fagan, commander of the First Coast Guard District. “My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been touched by today’s sad event.”

Coast Guard officials are assisting the investigation, she said.

MacDonald, the officer injured in the hail of gunfire, had also served in the Coast Guard, friends said, as well as the Marines. A young man who answered the door at MacDonald’s home declined to comment.

Christopher Farrell, a retired Bourne police sergeant who once supervised him on the night shift, said MacDonald could talk to anyone, no matter what their background.


With two children attending the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, MacDonald works the night shift on the force and as an electrician during the day, Farrell said.

Farrell said friends have posted photos of MacDonald in the hospital, smiling and in good enough spirits to give his visitors a flippant one-finger salute.

“Just a good guy all around,’’ Farrell said. “He is going to have a long recovery. I just hope he gets back on his feet real quick.’’

A burned-out car was towed from the crime scene in Bourne. George Rizer for the Boston Globe

Few details emerged about Loya’s actions before the shootings. Prosecutors did not describe the crimes in court, and records were sealed by District Court Judge Michael C. Creedon.

Paul Tero, an employee at the Quality Inn in Bourne, said Loya checked into the hotel by himself Tuesday evening and did nothing that seemed suspicious during his stay. He paid for three nights and was scheduled to check out Friday.

“No apparent red flags,” Tero said. The hotel has turned over video surveillance footage to police, he said.

Neighbors described a chaotic scene that broke out shortly after 2 a.m. at the condo complex on Roundhouse Road. Officers were called to investigate reports of a car fire and several explosions, authorities said.

While police were near the car, Loya allegedly opened fire on them. “It certainly was an ambush of the police officers,” O’Keefe said at a morning news conference.

About the same time, the surviving woman called 911 about the attack, saying the assailant had fled.


While under heavy fire, police pressed forward toward Loya. After being given a number of verbal commands, he surrendered. Loya was not shot by police, O’Keefe said.

Police then found the wounded woman and the second victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. At the same time, officers carried MacDonald through the woods to a waiting ambulance, authorities said.

Residents of the complex, which sits along a circular street at the top of a hill, said they awoke to the sound of gunfire and explosions that continued intermittently for about 20 minutes.

“We heard, boom, boom, boom! And then I saw a blaze of fire,” said Michelle Joseph, who was home with her husband.

Alex Voronov, another resident, heard the shots and looked out the window of his second floor bedroom to see the armed man sitting still on one of his deck chairs facing the house. The two men were about 25 feet away from each other, separated only by glass. Voronov was home with his mother, his wife, and their infant daughter. He called 911 and grabbed a baseball bat.

“I was preparing for the worst, I will tell you that,” he said.

About six minutes passed, Voronov said, and when he looked out of his window again, he saw the man stand, lay his rifle down on top of an empty cardboard box on the deck, and then unhook his ammunition belt and lay it by the rifle. The man then raised his arms over his head and slowly walked off the porch in surrender.


The man never said a word.

At an arraignment in Falmouth District Court on Thursday, Adrian Loya (right) pleaded not guilty to murder charges, and was held without bail. Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times/AP

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Rebecca Fiore and Aneri Pattani contributed to this report.