THURMONT, Md. — An armed man killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Thurmont, Md. early Monday was reported to have broken into his home where he'd been living for two years.
His girlfriend and two small children also lived in this home, according to a statement from the Frederick County Maryland Sheriff's Department and accounts from neighbors.
The mother and children were not in the house at the time of the pre-dawn incident, although responding officers thought the family was inside and feared they may have been in danger, according to the official statement.
The family was in the process of breaking up, and the woman had sought a Thurmont police officer's help in securing a protective order over the weekend, authorities said.
Neighbors said there had been at least two loud confrontations at the home over the weekend.
Frederick County Sheriff’s Department deputies and Thurmont police were called to the house on Sandy Spring Lane around 1:20 a.m. for a report of a burglary in progress with an armed man, later identified as 25-year-old Abraham Arellano, who was possibly suicidal, according to law enforcement radio traffic.
The first responding deputy reported Arellano was in the fenced backyard of the home.
Seconds later, the suspect approached the deputy who could be heard on an open microphone shouting “drop it," a split second before a gunshot could be heard.
The suspect was holding a handgun and had turned to go back into the house where officers believed the woman and children were inside.
The deputy fired a rifle to bring Arellano down. He died on the scene.
Neighbors said the couple had been raising two pre-school children and there had been recent friction in the family.
They described the incident as a domestic tragedy.