CHESTERTOWN, Maryland -- A 52-year-old man was killed and a Queen Anne's County sheriff's deputy was critically injured early Thursday in an exchange of gunfire after a domestic dispute in Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore, authorities said.
Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Deputy First-Class Warren Scott Hogan and the man, James L. Rich, II, shot each other following a domestic dispute between Rich and his girlfriend at his home in the 200 block of Edmore Road, according to Maryland State Police.
The woman, who was not named by police, texted her father about 9:30 p.m. that Rich had been violent toward her, and she asked her father to call police. When sheriff's deputies arrived, they found neither her nor Rich at the home; her father had brought her to the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department himself, officials said.
When deputies and the woman's parents returned to the house with the woman to pick up her belongings, they found Rich and his teenage son home. Rich and his girlfriend again began to argue, and he retrieved a shotgun from a back room in the house.
"He came out of the room and fired one round," State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said. "He then continued walking toward the deputy and was in close proximity when the suspect and the deputy exchanged gunfire."
"Both were struck by the other's gunfire, according to the preliminary investigation," Shipley said.
Rich was taken to Chester River Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Hogan, a four-year veteran of the department, was out of surgery but remained in critical condition at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center Thursday morning, the agency said.
No one else was injured, police said.
The deputy, who had served seven years with another law enforcement agency prior to joining the force, was wearing a body camera during the incident. Any footage will be reviewed by Maryland State Police as they investigate and won't be immediately released, officials said.
Hogan also was wearing protective armor, but the shotgun blast hit below it, officials said.
He was conscious and talking when he was admitted to Shock Trauma, Physician-in-Chief Dr. Thomas Scalea said, but the injuries could take weeks, months or more to heal.
"A close-range shotgun blast is a devastating injury with a huge amount of energy transfer and that certainly happened to this officer," Scalea said.
He described a "spreading zone" of injuries that result from a shotgun blast.
Scalea made a quarter-sized circle with his thumb and his forefinger. "You see a gunshot wound, and the entrance wound is like that," he said.
Then he held up both hands, widening the circle to about the size of a football: "You see a shotgun blast, and the entrance wound is like that."
Many sheriff's deputies made the trip to the Shock Trauma center in Baltimore to accompany Hogan and his family. Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, too, walked upstairs to the waiting room area following a news conference in the hospital lobby.
"He's a really great guy and we've been here the entire time with him and his family supporting them, helping them get through this very traumatic event," Queen Anne's County Sheriff Gary Hofmann said. "His family's having a really tough time with this, as is the law enforcement family and the community."
Gov. Larry Hogan -- no relation to the deputy -- said he and his wife are "sending our prayers" to the deputy.
"As governor, I have been moved countless times by our police and first responders who place themselves in harm's way willingly and bravely to make our communities safer. Please keep Deputy First Class Hogan and his family in your thoughts today," the governor said in a statement.
Deputies had served a protective order to Rich at the home in July 2015, Hofmann said. A search warrant was obtained and was being executed at the house Thursday.
In 2001, a Queen Anne's County sheriff's deputy and a Centreville police officer were killed in a shooting at an Eastern Shore trailer park. Francis Mario Zito, a 43-year-old Pennsylvania native, was convicted the following year of first-degree murder in the killings, which happened as police tried to enter his trailer.
Baltimore Sun reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this story.
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