BROOKEVILLE, Md. (AP) - A man held his wife against her will, followed her to a neighboring Maryland home and fatally shot three people before killing himself, police said.
The wife of 41-year-old Christopher Wilson Snyder fled to the Brookeville residence where Mary Ann Olson lived on Monday, The Washington Post reported . Snyder’s wife told investigators she had been held against her will by Snyder during the weekend and found the opportunity to escape to her neighbor’s home.
Investigators believe this caused Snyder to go to the neighbor’s residence and open fire. The victims have been identified as Danny Lee Murphy, 70, of Brandon, South Dakota, Craig Harold Shotwell, 54 and Olson, 66.
All three had no connection to Snyder and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, police said. Murphy was visiting the residence and Shotwell was performing work there.
Three other adults who had also been at the home at the time of the shooting had escaped unharmed, police said.
Afterward, Snyder is believed to have retreated to his home, where police negotiators attempted to coax him into surrendering for hours. Officers eventually forced their way into the home at 11 p.m.
“Did they just break in the front door?” Snyder asked a negotiator over the phone before hanging up and fatally shooting himself, police said.
Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said Snyder was known to police, and that they’ve “had a number of contacts with this suspect in the past over a number of different issues.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the newspaper that Snyder had a federal license to be a firearm’s dealer under the name Black Widow.
Snyder was divorced from a former wife in March 2017. His current wife, who fled to Olson’s home, did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
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