HAGERSTOWN — An attempt by U.S. marshals to arrest a fugitive in Hagerstown’s West End Friday afternoon ended with the wanted man seriously wounded by gunfire and two marshals suffering leg injuries, the Hagerstown Police Department said.
The marshals’ injuries were not caused by gunfire and were not life-threatening, Hagerstown Police Department Sgt. Paul Kifer said. One had a broken leg, he said.
Darryll Cash, 35, who was wanted for a weapons violation in West Virginia, was taken into custody and taken to Washington County Hospital, Kifer said. Cash was in fair condition Friday night, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Upon hearing that shots were fired and an officer was injured about 12:45 p.m., city, county and state law enforcement officers responded to the scene in the 200 block of Merrbaugh Drive, attracting a crowd of spectators.
The incident began when a team of eight agents from the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant for Cash at 239 Merrbaugh Drive, Kifer said. Cash was charged in the West Virginia state warrant with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
There was an exchange of gunfire between the marshals and Cash, who then barricaded himself inside the house, Kifer said.
With the help of Washington County Special Response Team members in tactical gear, officers and negotiators went into the house and talked Cash into coming out for medical attention, Kifer said.
Special Response Team members were seen taking a ladder into the house, and Kifer said it took some time to get to the spot where Cash had barricaded himself in.
One of the marshals and Cash were taken from the house on stretchers about 1:45 p.m.
The marshal with the broken leg was taken to Washington County Hospital, then transferred to another facility for surgery, Kifer said. The other injured marshal was taken to the hospital for evaluation of a minor leg injury and later was released, Kifer said.
Police will not be releasing the marshals’ names, Kifer said.
In addition to Cash, two women were in the house at the time of the incident, Kifer said. Both were taken in for questioning, he said.
A woman who lives across the street said about 12:45 p.m. a group of police officers surrounded the house at 239 Merrbaugh Drive and were banging on the door.
The woman, who did not want her name used, said the officers got a battering ram and went around to the back of the house.
Kristy Nikirk, 30, who lives next door, said her friend lives in the house at 239 Merrbaugh Drive and the woman’s on-again, off-again boyfriend sometimes stayed there with her.
Nikirk said from inside her house, she saw a group of officers pounding on the door of 239 Merrbaugh Drive. When she looked outside again, she didn’t see them and figured they had gone inside.
Nikirk said she went outside to smoke a cigarette. While she was outside, she heard three gunshots.
“Next thing I knew, I just heard pew, pew, pew, and I guess it must have ricocheted off of something and landed in the road,” Nikirk said.
“I just grabbed my kids and ran in,” she said.
Officers instructed Nikirk to take her young children to a neighbor’s house, then went into her house and used it as a vantage point for their operation, she said.
The Hagerstown Police Department, which is investigating the shooting, later placed markers next to several bullet fragments in the road outside the house, Kifer said.
A neighbor across the street from the house, who did not want to be identified, said one of the bullets bounced off of his car and one apparently struck the siding on the house next to his.
Neighbors in the community, known as Gateway Crossing, said they were shaken by the incident.
“It’s always been so quiet down here,” said Glenda Castle, 58, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 2 1/2 years.
In December, West Virginia State Police said a Hagerstown man named Darryll Cash escaped on foot after a traffic stop on Interstate 81 in Berkeley County. At the time, Cash was wanted in Washington County and New York on drug and weapons charges, West Virginia State Police said.
