Maryland Murder-Suicide: Man Holds Wife Captive, Fatally Shoots 3 Before Killing Self

After a seven-hour standoff with the police, a man who held his wife captive over the weekend and killed three people in his neighbor’s house, took his own life.

Christopher Snyder, 41, who lived in 22000 block of Brown Farm Way, near Brookeville, Maryland, held his wife captive over the weekend and when she did manage to flee to a neighbor’s home, he chased her down on Monday and killed three of the six members in that house — Snyder's neighbor, an out-of-state guest, and the homeowner's employee, the New York Daily News reported.

Snyder’s wife and two others managed to get away from the scene unharmed. Following the multiple shootings, Snyder returned to his own house and barricaded himself inside.

The police were alerted to the situation after receiving a number of 911 calls at 3:44 p.m. EDT, some of which had sounds of gunshots going off in the background.

On arriving at the scene, the police found the three victims in a neighboring home. “First responders came to the scene, they located multiple fatalities and backed out of the house believing it was not safe,” said Capt. Paul Starks of Montgomery County Police Department.

The police then tracked the suspect, surrounding Snyder’s home on all sides, as the latter refused to surrender. "We can confirm that the suspect of these homicides is in his home on Brown Farm Way," Montgomery County police said in a tweet. "Our negotiators have been speaking with him via phone. He is refusing to come out of the home."

After failing to convince Snyder to come out of his house and surrender for seven hours, the police gave orders to breach the front door of his house at 11 p.m. EDT.

"Our tactical team breached the front door and when they breached the front door the suspect was on the phone with negotiators," Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said at a late-night press conference, ABC30 reported. "He asked the negotiator, 'Did they just break in the front door?' and then hung up the phone. At that point, officers outside the home heard a single gun shot."

The police found Snyder’s body after entering his house.

The police recovered guns from the suspect’s house. Snyder also mentioned he had explosives in his house during his talks with the negotiator and hence, the police continued to search his property late into the night.

One man who lived in the area, described Snyder as “very sketchy.” Snyder’s wife is cooperating with the police and was the one who confirmed that she was being held against her will by her husband.

Meanwhile, there was widespread panic in the neighborhood, with people calling their loved ones to make sure that they were not harmed. Residents in the area were told to stay inside their houses during the standoff.

Jean Garland, one of the neighbors, was on the phone with her two kids, frustrated that she couldn’t be with them. “My daughter is being calm, but my son is…” Garland said, CBS Baltimore reported.

Another neighbor, Shahzad Azad worried about his parents and tried to figure out a way to get them to safety. “I’m trying to figure out right now if there’s another alternative route, I can only think of one but if they don’t allow that you know essentially people in the area are going to be stuck for an indefinite amount of time,” Azad said.