06 May, 2017
A man suspected of fatally shooting a DE state trooper was shot and killed by officers after a 20-hour standoff at his home, state police said Thursday.
The unnamed suspect fired at officers who were outside his home around 4 a.m., police said. Stephen Ballard was shot in the parking lot of the Wawa store at 1605 Pulaski Highway shortly after 12 p.m. Wednesday.
Delaware State Police Master Corporal Gary Fournier stated on Wednesday, "the suspect has been firing shots at the police officers from the residence that he lives in and is now held up in the house". The passenger got out of the vehicle and fired several shots at close range.
Police arrested the second man at the scene of the shooting.
Ballard was transported to Christiana Hospital, where he died.
"He was well-respected and well-liked", Lt. David Wells of Milford Police Department said. When Sealy stopped communicating with officers at about 8:22 p.m., the ordnance unit used an explosive breaching charge on the front door.
Cpl. Ballard had been a member of the Delaware State Police for over eight years.
Witnesses said that customers and employees at the Wawa location performed CPR on the officer until rescue workers arrived.
The suspect, identified today as Burgon Sealy, allegedly shot 32-year-old Cpl. Although state officials would not release the suspect's name, police did confirm that the suspect holed up in the home lived there with his family.
The suspect was armed with an unknown type of firearm, Fournier said.
Carney ordered flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff. Ballard was investigating a suspicious vehicle in the Wawa parking lot.
The trooper was slain shortly after noon in the parking lot of a convenience store.
We are incredibly indebted to their bravery and service... Various police agencies had surrounded the evacuated area in Middletown where the man had barricaded himself in his residence on St. Michaels Drive in the Brick Mill Farm development.
Sealy also shot out many police vehicle windows during the shootout, Smyk said.
Police warned nearby residents to stay inside and lock their doors, and hostage negotiators established contact, trying to get Sealy to surrender peacefully.
He is just the 19th Delaware State Trooper killed in the line of duty in the department's 94-year history, and the first since Corporal Christopher Shea was struck by a drunk driver in 2004. With Ballard on the ground, police say Sealy approached him and then fired multiple rounds at close range, striking Ballard again in the upper body.
"My heart is with the officer's family and the officers who have served beside him", Gov. John Carney said in a statement.
Delaware State Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz says in a news release Wednesday night that Cpl.
