3 Victims Identified In Fatal Brookeville Shootings

(Updated at 1:48 p.m. Tuesday): BROOKEVILLE, MD — Three people were shot to death during a domestic dispute in Montgomery County Monday afternoon, and the suspected gunman killed himself hours later after a standoff, Montgomery County Police said late Monday evening.

The gunman, Christopher Wilson Snyder, 41, allegedly kept his wife captive in their home over the weekend. She managed to escape and flee to a neighbor's home Monday afternoon, prompting Snyder to follow her and fatally shoot three victims in the neighboring home.

The victims have been identified as a neighbor, a contractor working on the neighbor's house and a neighbor's friend who was visiting from out of town.

Authorities reported to the scene at a home in the 22000 block of Brown Farm Way, east of Sunshine, at about 3:44 p.m. The call was for a "domestic disturbance with initial report of multiple people shot" inside the home with multiple fatalities, police said. Residents were then urged to shelter in place as officers sought the gunman.

Police announced Tuesday afternoon that Snyder's wife, who has not been identified at this time, told detectives that she had been held in the home against her will by Snyder during the weekend. She managed to escape to her neighbor's home at 22002 Brown Farm Way.

When Snyder's wife ran to her neighbor's for help, Snyder apparently followed and fired the fatal gunshots.

"Investigators believe this caused Snyder to go to that neighbor’s home where he shot and killed the three victims," police said.

The three victims have been identified as:

• Mary Ann Olson, 66, of the residence located at 22002 Brown Farm Way.
• Danny Lee Murphy, 70, of East Spearfish Drive in Brandon, South Dakota. He was visiting the residents of 22002 Brown Farm Way, police said.
• Craig Harold Shotwell, 54, of Wards Chapel Road in Owings Mills. He was performing work at the residence located at 22002 Brown Farm Way.

"Officers learned that three other adults who had also been at the home at the time of the shooting had been able to escape from the home unharmed. One of those adults was the suspect's wife," Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said Monday night.

Snyder fled to his residence across the street after the shooting scene and held police off for several hours.

Negotiators spoke to Snyder by phone in an effort to get him to surrender. He was reportedly talking to negotiators when a tactical team broke through the front door of Snyder’s home about 11 p.m.Snyder asked police if they had just broke in the front door of his home and then hung up the phone. Tactical officers then heard a single gunshot, police said, and found Snyder dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Manger said Snyder was known to police, and they have "had contact with this suspect in the past over a number of different issues."

A nearby resident, Todd Greenstone, told The Washington Post that Snyder was a "nut case."

Greenstone said Snyder previously came to his farm to do target shooting with Greenstone's friends.

“I just didn’t care for the guy,” Greenstone told The Post. “We do good, clean, honest shooting, some skeet shooting. He came loaded for bear.”

“I asked him not to come back to the farm,” Greenstone said.

Drivers were asked to avoid the area of New Hampshire Avenue and Georgia Avenue for police and fire activity.

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Photo: Patch Graphic