First Class Deputy Glen Hilliard was fatally wounded around 8:25 p.m. in Pittsville, Maryland, the office said. The 20-year-old suspect is in custody at the county detention center, Sheriff Mike Lewis told CNN.
The sheriff’s office is due to hold a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. to give more details about the investigation, Lewis said.
Hilliard, 41, is at least the 25th law enforcement officer killed this year in a shooting while on duty, according to a page on Officer Down’s monument that tracks similar deaths. Last year, we saw the most U.S. law enforcement officials deliberately killed in the line of duty since Sept. 11 as gun violence and homicides increased, according to FBI data. Hillard spotted the fugitive with “crime orders in multiple jurisdictions” as he left a residential complex and chased him on foot when he was shot, the ministry said. “After a thorough search by dozens of law enforcement officers from across the region, the suspect has been arrested and is awaiting indictment,” he added, without giving his name.
An investigation into Hilliard’s murder will be conducted by Maryland State Police, Lewis said.
Hilliard was a 16-year veteran of law enforcement, the sheriff said. He spent six years in the sheriff’s office in Wicomico County in southeastern Maryland and 10 years as a police officer in Berlin, Maryland.
“He was … married with three beautiful children,” said Lewis, “an exemplary civil servant for the citizens of Wycoma County and Maryland,” the department said.
“The coming days will be challenging, but for now we are grieving the loss of an amazing human being,” the sheriff’s office said.
Hillard would turn 42 on June 22, the department said.
CNN’s Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
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