artolympic/iStock/Thinkstock(MIDDLETOWN, Del.) — The suspect in Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a Delaware state trooper was shot and killed Thursday after an hours-long standoff with authorities, according to the Delaware State Police.
Various police agencies had surrounded the evacuated area in Middletown where the suspect barricaded himself in a residence on St. Michaels Drive in the Brick Mill Farm development.
Police identified him as Burgon Sealy, 26. After he fled the scene of the shooting at the Wawa convenience store in Bear, Delaware, he contacted family members to say he had shot the trooper, police said in a news conference this afternoon.
The family members then contacted law enforcement, who tracked Sealy to his home.
Earlier Thursday morning, authorities managed to breach numerous windows with explosives but had not yet entered the home. Officers were attempting to make contact with the suspect and were continuing to attempt to persuade him to surrender, state police said.
The armed suspect, believed to have been inside the residence alone, fired more rounds on authorities Thursday around 4 a.m. ET, according to state police. There were no reported injuries.
The suspect exited the residence at 9:17 a.m. ET and “engaged police,” officials said. He was then shot by law enforcement and pronounced dead at the scene at 9:29 a.m. ET, state police said.
Residents in the area remain evacuated. The Odessa Fire Company has opened its facility to temporarily house the evacuated residents.
The standoff stemmed from Wednesday’s shooting that claimed the life of Cpl. Stephen Ballard, an eight-year veteran of the Delaware State Police.
Around 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, Ballard observed a vehicle in the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store in Bear, Delaware. When the trooper made contact with its occupants, a struggle ensued, state police said.
One of the two unnamed suspects then exited the vehicle and fired several rounds at the trooper, striking him. Ballard, 32, was treated at the scene and transported to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, according to state police.
The investigation into the fatal shooting is ongoing.
One of the suspects was taken into custody without incident. The second suspect fled on foot before additional troopers arrived and had since barricaded himself in the residence, state police said.
The suspect refused orders to surrender while continuing to fire at police officers.
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