Md. cop shoots, kills assault suspect

Neighbors told police the man assaulted a woman who was bleeding and crying for help

By Erin Cox
The Capital

GAMBRILLS, Md. — A county police officer shot and killed a Gambrills man Friday night in what police said was a struggle behind a suburban home.

Neighbors told police the man assaulted a woman who was bleeding and crying for help outside a split-foyer house the pair shared in a Gambrills cul-de-sac.

Police said the man attempted to drag her back inside the house and when an officer responded to neighbors' 911 calls, the man and the officer struggled in the wooded, unfenced backyard.

Anne Arundel County Police spokesman Lt. Glenn Shanahan would not say whether the man was armed, citing the ongoing investigation.

The woman, who like the man was not identified by police, was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center with minor injuries, officials said. The officer was not hurt.

A spokesman for Maryland Shock Trauma in Baltimore said the man did not survive the gunshot wounds.

Property records list Vanessa Ribakov as the owner of the home on the 800 block of Frost Valley Lane.

Shanahan said there had been no previous 911 calls to the home recently and the officer hadn't been involved in prior shootings. The officer's identity was not released.

Several neighbors said it appeared no children lived at the home and that man and women mostly kept to themselves.

William Williams was cleaning up his lawn when he saw the first police cruiser arrive, then saw an officer walk around the house. Williams said he heard three shots in quick succession, as though they were fired from the same gun.

Shanahan would not confirm the number of shots fired or how many struck the man, saying how the struggle ensued was still under investigation.

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