The sister of a man who shot at Prince George’s County, Maryland, firefighters as they forced their way into his house Friday said her brother was trying to defend himself, thinking someone was breaking into his home.
“It was a tragic horror story,” the man’s sister said Sunday in an interview. “My brother was very sick. He is a gentle person.”
Firefighters and medics responding to an emergency call from a man who had been unable to reach his diabetic brother decided to break through the brother’s front door in the Temple-Camp Springs area when he did not respond to repeated knocks. As they entered – fearing he might have blacked out or had a seizure – gunshots erupted from inside, killing firefighter John E. Ulmschneider and injuring another and the man’s brother, who was outside with them.
“We are so sorry about the firefighter and for the family,” the man’s sister said. “We were praying so hard.”
The sister asked that she not be identified to protect the privacy of her family. She said her brother is still being monitored by doctors, but she declined to specify his medical condition. The Washington Post is not identifying the shooter because he has not been charged and police have not named him publicly. Efforts to reach the man by phone Sunday were not successful.
The 61-year-old man was released from police custody Saturday night, according to authorities, and no charges have been filed.
A spokesman for the Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s office and a fire department spokesman said Sunday that the sister’s account of the shooting is consistent with preliminarily assessments that it may have been a tragic mistake.
The state’s attorney’s office is continuing to investigate with police to “piece together what happened,” said a spokesman for the office, John Erzen. “We will determine what, if any, charges are appropriate.”
Mark Brady, a fire department spokesman, said that the shooter “has been consistent from the first moment to the end” in his interviews with police.
On Friday night, rescuers announced themselves loudly three times and knocked repeatedly at the door before trying to enter.
Brady said the rescuers made the decision not to wait for police to arrive because they “felt compelled that there could be a medical emergency going on” and “had to enter the house as soon as possible.”
Shots were fired in their direction as they tried to get in, authorities said.
The wounded firefighter, Kevin Swain, 19, was shot four times and underwent surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Brady said Sunday that Swain, a volunteer at the Morningside station, continues to make progress and that the department “looks forward to him making a full recovery.”
The injured brother was shot in the shoulder and was listed in fair condition at a hospital, officials said. They did not identify either brother by name.
On Saturday, family members and colleagues mourned the death of Ulmschneider and prayed for Swain’s recovery. At Ulmschneider’s station in Landover Hills, black bunting was draped over the firehouse and along the hood of an ambulance parked on the lawn.
Ulmschneider, 37, had been in the department for 13 years and was married and the father of a 2-year-old girl, officials said.
Ulmschneider worked at several fire departments to pick up overtime. On Friday night, fire officials said, he was on assignment with the Forestville Fire-EMS station, but he typically worked at the Landover Hills Fire-EMS station.
In a statement, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, D, called Ulmschneider “a dependable family man who loved serving this county as both a firefighter and paramedic.”
