News

Actions

Final briefing on Harford deputy deaths

Posted at 2:36 PM, Mar 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-22 17:43:29-04

The ex-wife of the suspect in the fatal shootings of two Harford County deputies called 911 the morning of the incident Feb. 10, saying she believed he was in the Abingdon Panera. 

David Brian Evans had shot her on New Year's Eve in 1997 or 1998, Elizabeth Rupp told the dispatcher. 

"He's very serious and somber-looking," Rupp said. 

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler played the 911 calls from that day during his final briefing on the line-of-duty deaths of Sr. Deputy Patrick Dailey and Deputy 1st Class Mark Logsdon.

Both deputies' fatal encounters with Evans was relatively brief. Dailey's interaction with him lasted just 12 seconds. Evans shot Logsdon just twice.  

"Shots fired, shots fired ... officer down," can be heard on one of the audio recordings played by Gahler. 

RELATED: Saying goodbye to Deputy 1st Class Mark Logsdon

RELATED: Saying goodbye to Harford Co. fallen deputy, Patrick Dailey

Gahler said during the media briefing that he fully suspected it was Evans' intent to shoot his ex-wife and other members of his family, whom he had last seen some two decades earlier. So, in a way, others' lives were saved as a result of the deputies' bravery, the sheriff said. 

"It's about Pat and Mark. They're what's important to me," Gahler said. 

He said closure from the tragedy will be impossible. 

"This is the darkest day in 242 years," he said. 

Download the ABC2 News app for the iPhone, Kindle and Android.