Mass shooting suspect apprehended near Glasgow

• In Maryland, five of the suspect’s co-workers are shot – three fatally.
• Later in Wilmington, a man is shot; he knows the suspect, police say.
• The 37-year-old suspect from Belvedere is caught near Glasgow after police receive tips.
• The suspect had been arrested 42 times before in Delaware and has 15 felony convictions.

A massive manhunt for a Delawarean who police say shot five people in Maryland, killing three, and one man in Wilmington ended with his capture Wednesday night near Glasgow.

Wilmington police Chief Robert Tracy said the suspect, identified as Radee L. Prince of Belvedere, west of Wilmington, knew all of his victims, including a business owner who was shot in the head inside his used car dealership in the northeast section of the city.

"These were targeted shootings," Tracy said at a press conference, flanked by local officers and federal authorities at Wilmington's police station. “This is a dangerous individual. This person shot six people in one day. This is a person with no conscience.” 

Law enforcement's break came about 5:35 p.m. Wednesday when they received a tip that Prince's vehicle had been spotted near Glasgow High School, Tracy said. Police then set up a perimeter around the area. 

About 6:45 p.m., police received another tip that he had been seen walking on Thanksgiving Way, a little more than half a mile from the Four Seasons Shopping Center. 

When federal agents came across Prince walking down a street in the Four Seasons community, he began running, Tracy said. 

"During the foot chase, our suspect discarded the ... firearm, which has also been recovered," Tracy said. 

RELATED:Mass shooting suspect has had many prior arrests, few convictions

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives captured Prince about 75 feet from where he was first spotted. The recovered gun is the same caliber as the weapon used in the Wilmington and Maryland shootings, Tracy said.

"I'm very happy the way this ended," he said. “Without the tips from civilians out there ... we would not have been able to make this apprehension.”  

About two hours before the car dealership shooting in northeast Wilmington, police said the 37-year-old Prince opened fire at a Maryland granite shop where he killed three people and seriously injured two. 

While authorities do not believe the victims in Delaware and Maryland are connected, police were able to link Prince to both crimes because the Wilmington victim, who had been alert after the shooting, gave a detailed description of the suspect, Tracy said.

"They've had some past history on some criminal cases. That's where I'd rather leave it at this time," Tracy said. "It's a relationship that has gone awry."

The News Journal learned the 35-year-old victim had a violent encounter with Prince more than a year ago, according to an arrest record. 

Documents state the victim told police in early 2016 that Prince "physically attacked" him inside a home near Newport.

Prince "grabbed him and started punching him," a New Castle County police officer wrote in an affidavit of probable cause, which was based on the victim's account.

He "was talking crazy stating, 'I don't care what you got, I can take what you got, I don't care you're rich," according to the document. 

During the struggle, Prince grabbed at the victim's pockets in an attempt to steal his money, according to the account. Charges against Prince in the incident ultimately were dropped, according to court records.

Tracy said Prince has 42 previous arrests in Delaware and 15 felony convictions.

Asked at the press conference why someone with such a long criminal record could be walking free, Tracy said, "I sometimes ask that question myself." 

"If there are violent people who are causing carnage in the community, we got to find a way to keep them behind bars so they can't go out and re-offend," he said.

Tense hours

Tracy said his officers arrived at the Wilmington used car dealership Wednesday before 11 a.m., just in time to see Prince's vehicle flee the scene. After a brief chase, officers lost his black SUV as it headed northbound on Market Street, near 30th Street.

It was a tense few hours while local, state and federal authorities searched for Prince, who was last seen driving a black 2008 GMC Acadia SUV with Delaware tag PC064273. A number of area schools in both Maryland and Delaware were locked down as a result of the manhunt.

At the afternoon press conference, Tracy spoke directly to Prince, saying, "Turn yourself in." 

The SUV was found Wednesday night outside Wilmington, shortly before Prince was caught. 

Investigators in the Maryland mass shooting were treating it as a case of workplace violence, said Dave Fitz, a spokesman for the Baltimore FBI field office. It occurred at 8:58 a.m. Wednesday at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, which is between Baltimore and Aberdeen.

Barak Caba, owner of a home improvement company in the business park where the shooting took place, told the Associated Press in a brief telephone interview that the suspect has been an employee for four months. He said the man was a machine operator.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland said Wednesday night on its Facebook page that the people who died were Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland, and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland.

The wounded were in critical condition, according to a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, Prince headed to Wilmington, according to authorities.

An employee of the Wilmington car lot said the victim was sitting behind his desk talking to a customer when the shooter came into his office and opened fire.

"He walked right behind me, said something to the girl that works here; that's why they know who it is," said the employee who requested anonymity. "He walked in there and shot [the owner]. Didn't say a word, just shot him. His gun jammed, and [the owner's] already shot, and tried to crawl and get out of there, and he shot him four more times."

The employee noted that the car lot, 28th Street Auto Sales, has numerous cameras both outside and inside.

Another man, who also requested anonymity, said he heard five gunshots while he was at work in a nearby mechanic shop. He stepped out to the sidewalk and saw a man flee in a black truck, he said. The mechanic then ran over to 28th Street Auto Sales. He found [the victim] inside his office "covered in blood," but speaking "completely coherently."

"He was saying out loud who it was," he said.

A crowd of people gathered around the scene at about 11 a.m. Wednesday after the shooting. Police tape closed 28th Street north of Governor Printz Boulevard as detectives, looking for clues, walked from the street to the business. Clothes were scattered just outside the door of the office where the shooting apparently occurred.  

Employees of three other nearby auto shops clustered around the intersection.

WHAT WE KNOW NOW:Shootings at Maryland office park and in Wilmington

Robert Thomas, an auto detailer who works for the victim, said the victim is a generous employer. 

When [the owner] would loan him money, Thomas said, he wouldn't ask for a cash repayment, but instead would have debts repaid with labor.

"And if he didn't have nothing for you to do, he would find something for you to do," Thomas said.   

Thomas, who lives north of Wilmington, was not at work when the shooting occurred, he said, but came to the scene soon after other employees called.

"He never had too many enemies," he said of [the owner]. "In the used car business you had people that like you and people that don't, but he was a problem solver."

RELATED:Delaware schools on lockdown after Maryland shooting

As word of the school lockdown spread, parents could be seen waiting outside Delcastle Technical High School, near Prince's residence, waiting to pick up their children. Parents of Red Clay students received an audio message indicating the district was on "modified lockdown." 

Padua Academy also was on lockdown, with a police presence outside. Some area schools postponed after-school activities and sports.

Criminal history

A search through Delaware's court records found that Prince has numerous charges filed against him dating back to the late 1990s. Most recently, he was charged with robbery, but that was dropped.

A search through Maryland court records found that in February, Prince had a peace order requested against him, but the District Court for Harford County denied it, saying there was no "statutory basis for relief." 

Prince was fired from a job earlier this year after attacking a co-worker, according to the Baltimore Sun.

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He also had multiple traffic offenses from attempting to allude Maryland State Police and driving recklessly in August 2016, as well as another traffic violation during which he was charged with having a loaded gun in his vehicle, which he was not permitted to have due to a previous felony conviction, according to online court records. It appears some of the charges against him were dropped and others were pleaded to, according to online court records.

This story includes information from the Associated Press.