FREDERICA, DELAWARE (6/28/2016) A 25-year-old man pursued by Maryland police into Delaware late Monday night was shot and killed by a Delaware State Police trooper along Route 1 north of Frederica, authorities said.
The man killed, from Greensboro, Maryland, was a suspect in burglaries in both states. He was later identified as Raymond A. Hutson.
At 11:51 p.m., deputies from the Caroline County (Maryland) Sheriff’s Office pursued a red 1994 Ford pickup truck across the state line after determining it had been stolen and the driver was wanted for several burglaries in Maryland and Delaware, state police said.
“The suspect continued throughout western Kent County driving in a reckless manner running vehicles off the roadway. At this point troopers became involved in the pursuit in the area of Felton,” said Sgt. Richard Bratz of Delaware State Police. “As the pursuit continued eastbound on SR 12 the suspect was seen displaying a handgun in his left hand.”
Police later determined what he was holding was a cigarette lighter shaped like a handgun.
The pursuit continued into Frederica, with Hutson driving the truck the wrong way on the one-way David Street section of Route 12, then north on Frederica Road, then driving north in the southbound lanes of Route 1 into oncoming traffic, Bratz said.
Hutson stopped the truck on the southbound shoulder just south of Barratt’s Chapel Road, Bratz said, and the troopers and deputies saw the man holding the handgun.
“A trooper directed verbal commands toward the suspect to drop the weapon,” Bratz said. “The suspect ignored numerous verbal commands and then began waving the gun in the direction of the troopers and deputies. The trooper then discharged his divisionally issued patrol rifle striking the suspect who was still seated in the driver’s seat of the pickup truck.”
Hutson was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science for an autopsy, which confirmed he had died from a gunshot wound.
The 27-year-old trooper who shot the man is a four-year veteran of the state police, Bratz said, and assigned to the Troop 3 patrol in Camden. He was placed on administrative leave pending outcome of an investigation by state police homicide detectives.
Hutson was wanted on warrants from Kent County Superior Court for third-degree burglary, violation of probation and disregarding an officer’s signal while driving suspended or revoked, reckless driving and speeding. Details on the Maryland charges were not immediately available.