LAUREL, Del. – A man wearing a bulletproof vest killed two people and wounded four others Thursday during a bizarre shooting rampage in Maryland and Delaware before police arrested him, authorities said.
Police said the suspect also stole a car, shot and killed a dog, stole a pit bull, sprayed bullets at a series of homes and cars, and rammed an SUV into a chain-link fence during the crime spree.
Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeff Oldham (search) said authorities had determined possible motives for the attacks, but weren't releasing details. Police said the suspect, Allison L. Norman (search), 22, did not know any of the victims.
"Quite a morning for a little rural town," said Laurel's mayor, John Shwed.
Norman was charged with first-degree murder and handgun violations, officials said. He had failed to appear in court Wednesday for a hearing on four earlier firearms charges. Clerk Mark Bowen said the court issued a $10,000 bench warrant for Norman.
The attacks started in Laurel (search), where three men were shot, one fatally. It continued across the border in Maryland as the gunman allegedly fired indiscriminately at cars, homes and pets before being caught while fleeing on foot. Three people were shot in Salisbury, Md., including one who died, Oldham said. Witnesses told police Norman may have hijacked the car of the victim, Davondale M. Peters, 28, before fatally shooting him.
Two people were shot at an apartment building in Laurel, and another at a nearby shopping center. "It was just poom, poom, poom, poom. It just scared me so bad," said Matilda Smith, a resident of the apartment building.
She saw a young man covered in blood fall off an air conditioning unit he had been sitting on, about 20 feet from her door step. "To me, what I could see was nothing but blood; it shook me up," she said. "I stood there and couldn't believe what I was seeing."
Iris Weston said her son, Jamell Weston, 24, was killed at the apartment complex, and his cousin was wounded. "He was in the wrong place when the shooting started," she said.
At the shopping center, a trail of blood led down a road. Witnesses said a man was shot on side of the road, then staggered along the storefronts before collapsing. The mayor said this victim was apparently shot while trying to hitch a ride from the suspect as he fled the scene.
He kept firing at vehicles as he drove to Salisbury, Md., where he allegedly carjacked a vehicle, police said. He also allegedly fired shots at a home in a Delaware town, with a bullet lodging in a home near a sleeping child. In Salisbury, police say he broke into a home and terrorized an elderly couple.
Maryland State Police said the suspect was wearing the bulletproof vest and carrying a handgun when he was caught in Salisbury.
"He was obviously prepared for a confrontation," said Col. Thomas Hutchins, the Maryland State Police superintendent.
Of the four wounded, one was in critical condition, one was treated and released and the other two were expected to survive.
Norman's girlfriend, Ashley Dean of Seaford, Del., told WBOC-TV in Salisbury that she didn't believe her boyfriend was involved.
"Why would he do this?" Dean said. "Why would he do this? He has no reason to."
Resident Michelle Moss told The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal that she heard Norman yelling "Help, help, they're trying to kill me. ... I didn't do nothing," as he walked through a neighborhood in Salisbury.
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