Man steals police car, uses shotgun from trunk in suicide
11-04-03
Rising Sun, Md. - State police are investigating the death of a Rising
Sun man who apparently stole a police cruiser in Port Deposit then killed
himself during a stand-off with police.
Police say it began about 7 p.m. last night in the one-hundred block of Main Street (in Port Deposit).
Twenty-four-year-old Mark Haas was one of two men arrested and handcuffed by Port Deposit Police Chief Mark Tomlin after an unspecified disturbance.
According to state police, Tomlin stepped away from his cruiser for a moment, leaving the two men in the backseat. That's when Haas was able to take control of the car and drove off.
About 11 p.m., Haas' girlfriend reported he was outside a home on Ryan Drive in Rising Sun, threatening suicide.
Haas armed himself with a loaded shotgun taken the trunk of the police car, and refused demands from Tomlin to surrender. After several minutes, police say he turned the gun on himself.
The other man, 21-year-old Lee Nichols of Conowingo, was found hiding in the police car and has been booked on multiple charges.
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