Suspect in deadly two-state shooting rampage arrested in Delaware

A gunman suspected of killing three co-workers and critically wounding three other people in a two-state shooting spree was captured Wednesday in Delaware, authorities said.

Police said Radee Labee Prince, 37, was arrested after a foot chase in Newark, Delaware, by agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at around 7:05 p.m. ET, hours after the first shooting in Maryland.

The deadly rampage began, police said, when Prince killed three co-workers and critically wounded two others at the Maryland kitchen countertop business where he worked.

He then drove to a used car dealership in Wilmington, Delaware, where he shot and critically wounded another man “with whom he’s had some past history,” Wilmington Police Chief Bob Tracy said.

Local and federal law enforcement agencies launched a manhunt, and a tip at around 5:35 p.m. led police to Prince’s empty car in Newark. Authorities set up a perimeter, and at around 6:46 p.m. police received information that Prince was near a shopping center. He was arrested just after 7 p.m. following a brief foot chase, Tracy said.

During the chase Prince allegedly threw away a .380-caliber handgun, which was recovered, Tracy said. He was arrested without incident, Tracy said.

“A coordinated effort brought this to a successful conclusion on a very, very bad day,” Tracy told reporters Wednesday evening.

Tracy earlier called Prince “a person with no conscience,” and Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler called the fatal shooting in Maryland “one of the most heinous acts in our county.”

Armed with a handgun, Prince arrived at Advanced Granite Solutions, a kitchen countertop company in the town of Edgewood, around 8:30 a.m. to start his shift, Gahler said. Instead, he started shooting.

“It does appear to be a targeted attack,” the sheriff said.

Prince had worked as a machine operator for the company for four months, Gahler said. But police did not know of a motive.

Afterward, the gunman fled in a black GMC Arcadia to Prince’s home state, Delaware, where he allegedly shot another man around 10:45 a.m.

“It was premeditated,” said Tracy, who did not identify the victim. “That’s why he drove straight here from Maryland.”

Tracy said the wounded man was able to identify Prince as his attacker.

Prince is no stranger to law enforcement.

“He’s got 42 arrests in Delaware,” mostly for parole violations, Tracy said. He also has 15 felony convictions on his rap sheet, according to Tracy.

Prince also has a criminal record in Maryland, Gahler said.

In December 2003, Prince pleaded guilty to five counts of third-degree burglary and was sentenced to 25 years, with all but two years suspended, The Baltimore Sun reported. He was ordered to pay $34,500 in restitution.

People gather across the street from the scene of a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Maryland. Patrick Semansky / AP

Then, in March 2015, Prince faced several handgun charges in Cecil County, Maryland, the paper reported. The charges, which included being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a handgun in a vehicle, were later dropped.

In February, a former co-worker of Prince’s requested a restraining order against him in Harford County, but the request was turned down by a judge.

Advanced Granite Solutions is in Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.

The victims killed in Maryland were identified by the Harford County sheriff’s office as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48.

The Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, part of the University of Maryland Medical Center, reported that two of the wounded were in critical condition.

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