Washington County (MD) officer fatally shot

[MDEMT280]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,1632554.story

Police officer fatally shot in Washington Co.

Suspect also killed girlfriend, was taken into custody after shootout with police

The Associated Press

1:20 PM EST, December 20, 2007

SMITHSBURG

A young police officer in rural western Maryland was fatally shot in a confrontation with a man who had just stabbed a woman during a domestic dispute, authorities said today.

The suspect, Douglas W. Pryor, 29, of Smithsburg, was then wounded in a shootout with police and was recovering at Washington County Hospital, Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said during a news conference.

The victims were Christopher S. Nicholson, 25, one of three officers on the Smithsburg police force, and Alison L. Munson, 31, of Halfway. Halfway is an unincorporated community south of Hagerstown about 70 miles west of Baltimore.

Pryor is a suspect in the stabbing death of Munson last night in Halfway, police said. After the stabbing, he headed toward Smithsburg, a town of 2,900 about 8 miles east of Hagerstown, Mullendore said.

Officers investigating the shooting in Halfway notified Nicholson, the only Smithsburg officer on duty, Mullendore said. Nicholson was parked in a driveway about 2 miles north of Smithsburg on Welty Road, the road on which Pryor lived, awaiting backup, when he was shot.

Police pursuing Pryor caught up with his pickup truck a few miles further north in the Ringgold area and exchanged gunfire with the suspect before capturing him, Mullendore said.

The slain officer was single, with no children, Mullendore said. He was about 1 1/2 years into his first job as a law-enforcement professional.

Pryor was under a court order issued in early November to avoid contact with Munson, according to court records. He also was facing charges of second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property stemming from incidents on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Munson had filed a petition against Munson for child support Dec. 4, court documents state.

The couple's domestic problems and child-support issues dated to 2000, according to court records. She complained of domestic violence in 2002, when the couple lived together in the Smithsburg area, court documents state.

Munson has a police record dating to 1996 that includes a guilty plea in December 2002 to malicious destruction of property.

[BlueKnight901]

Guys there are just too many cases of this here lately...