Three people were killed and two others injured after a shooter opened fire at a manufacturing plant in Smithsburg, Maryland, authorities said.
Among the injured was a state trooper who exchanged fire with the suspect. The trooper was shot in the shoulder, Gov. Larry Hogan said during a press conference Thursday, and he also shot and injured the suspect.
At a separate press conference, Washington County Sheriff's Office officials released few details about the deadly shooting and said investigators were still working on determining why the suspect opened fire Thursday afternoon.
The shooting occurred at Columbia Machine, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
When deputies arrived, they found one person who was critically injured in the shooting as well as the three deceased victims.
The suspect, identified only as a man, fled the scene but was confronted by a Maryland state trooper on Maplesville Road and Mount Aetna Road, officials said. The two exchanged fire, and the suspect was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated.
The conditions of the shooter and the trooper were not immediately released by officials.
The deadly shooting Thursday in Washington County follows weeks of brutal mass shootings that have sparked once again a nationwide debate over gun control.
On May 24, 19 children and 2 teachers were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Ten days earlier, 10 people were killed when a shooter suspected of targeting Black people opened fire at a Buffalo supermarket.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise the legal age to buy semiautomatic rifles to 21, among other measures in hopes of reducing gun violence, but the bill is expected to be blocked in the Senate.
Apart from the headline-grabbing shootings, thousands of others have died so far this year. The American Public Health Association says gun violence in the US is a public health crisis. It is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually. As of June 9, at least 19,096 people have died from gun violence this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.