A 30-year-old Essex woman was fatally wounded yesterday afternoon when a man calmly walked into the Essex carpet supply business where she worked and shot her with a shotgun, Baltimore County police said.
Police charged the victim's estranged husband, 32-year-old Christopher Joseph Dehart, of the 2900 block of Breezy Point Court in Essex, with first-degree murder. He was scheduled for a bail hearing this morning.
The victim, Bridget Joy Dehart of the 7900 block of Montrose Ave., Essex, was flown by helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was pronounced dead about an hour after the shooting, a police spokesman said.
Witnesses told police the assailant entered Allied Products Co. in the Pulaski Industrial Park at 8864 Citation Road about 1:30 p.m.
"He asked for his wife from whom he had been separated for some time," said E. Jay Miller, police spokesman. "Apparently, one of the other employees knew about the separation and tried to alert the woman."
But Ms. Dehart heard the conversation, police said, and walked toward the front office. When she was about 15 feet away, the man lifted a 20-gauge shotgun that he was concealing and fired one round.
Police said the victim had turned away but was struck in the lower right back.
Two male employees then tackled the gunman and wrestled him to the floor, police said, and another round was discharged and struck the ceiling before the man was subdued.
He was pinned to the floor by the two men until police arrived. Neither employee was injured, police said.
Mr. Miller said police were interviewing family members and friends to determine the events that led to the slaying.
Meanwhile, county police were continuing their investigation into the slaying of a 17-year-old who was shot by intruders who burst into his home in Garden Village Park Wednesday night.
Police said Donnie Kunta Atkinson was shot in the face while he was watching television with a 22-year-old cousin, whose identity police were withholding.
Police said the cousin told them at least two people rushed into the basement family room of the victim's home in the 6000 block of Barstow Road, apparently entering through an unlocked sliding glass door.
The cousin told police he was forced to lie on the floor. Police said he reported hearing a shot and then seeing the teen-ager tumble backward over a coffee table. The assailants fled after the shooting.
Mr. Miller said the cousin was unable to provide any descriptions of the assailants, their clothing or a weapon.
Police were interviewing relatives of the victim and students and administrative staff of Overlea High School where the Atkinson youth was a student, Mr. Miller said.