A 42-year-old man wanted for violating his probation in a domestic assault case was fatally shot yesterday in Calvert County by two Maryland state troopers after he fired at them with a rifle, police said.
Ricky W. Leech of Dunkirk was pronounced dead at Prince George's Hospital Center about 9 a.m., state police said.
The incident began about 6 a.m., when Leech's estranged wife called 911 to report her husband sleeping in his truck in the cul-de-sac in front of her home in Dunkirk, in apparent violation of court orders, police said.
Calvert County sheriff's deputies responded to the call but did not find Leech there, police said. About an hour later, a state trooper spotted Leech's pickup truck in Prince George's County.
Leech apparently saw the trooper, who was soon joined by four others, and fled east on Route 4, state police said.
During the chase, Leech fired several shots at the troopers from his truck before reaching his wife's home in Calvert County, where he got out of the truck and fired at Trooper Jeremy W. Stonebreak, 22, and Cpl. Craig T. Ingram, 41, police said.
The troopers returned fire, striking Leech "multiple times," state police said.
On Monday, Leech was sentenced to probation and ordered to stay away from his wife, Deanna Leech, after he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in an incident in August, court records show. Leech threatened his wife several times this week, police said, and a district court judge issued an arrest warrant for him Thursday for violating probation.