Harford County sheriff says 37-year-old Radee Labeeb Prince opened fire with a handgun at an office park, killing three people and wounding two

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A gunman opened fire at a Maryland office park on Wednesday morning, killing three co-workers and wounding two others, authorities and the business owner said.

A manhunt was underway for 37-year-old Radee Labeeb Prince, who was considered armed and dangerous.

Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County said Prince shot his victims with a handgun and fled the Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, which is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north-east of Baltimore. The sheriff did not release a motive for the shooting.

The victims and the suspect worked for Advanced Granite Solutions, the owner of the home improvement company told The Associated Press. Prince has been an employee for four months, working as a machine operator, owner Barak Caba told AP in a brief telephone interview. Caba was shaken and would not provide additional details.

The wounded were in critical condition, according to a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Cowley shock trauma center in Baltimore.

Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan, spoke during a break from a meeting of a state board, saying the survivors had gunshot wounds to the head.

He said authorities had helicopters in the air and police on the ground looking for Prince, who may be driving a black 2008 GMC Acadia with the Delaware license tag PC 064273.

“The killer remains on the loose,” Hogan said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Unidentified bystanders embrace after a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Maryland. Photograph: Matt Button/AP

The FBI is assisting local authorities. Investigators were treating the shooting as a case of workplace violence and didn’t see ties to terrorism, said Dave Fitz, a spokesman for the Baltimore FBI field office.

Nearby schools and businesses were locked down as a precaution.

The business park is just south of the Interstate 95 interchange with Maryland 24.

Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off Advanced Granite Solutions on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators, deputies and federal agents fanned out across the business park to investigate.

Can Baltimore curtail police killings by defying Trump? Read more

Across the road, several employees, some wearing lime green T-shirts with the Advanced Granite Solutions logo, embraced each other as they waited for news of their colleagues. The sheriff said the department had set up a receiving area for family members in a nearby hotel ballroom.

The sheriff said Prince had a criminal record, but he did not know the extent of it. According to online court records, Prince lived in Elkton, about 35 miles from the shooting scene as recently as last month.

The sheriff said authorities checked an Elkton home after the shooting, but Prince was not there.