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Suspects arrested for cop-killing after massive manhunt

An intense manhunt involving aircraft and trained dogs came to an end Tuesday after a female officer was killed in a Baltimore suburb and four teenage suspects who were involved in burglaries in the area were arrested in connection with the slaying, officials said.

The nearly four-year veteran of the force, identified by authorities as Amy Caprio, was responding to a suspicious vehicle call Monday in the community of Perry Hall when Baltimore County Police Cpl. Shawn Vinson said she encountered suspects and was “critically injured.”

Baltimore County Police and Fire announced on Twitter that all four of the suspects were teenage males.

“Detective(s) have verified that the group were involved in burglaries in the area,” the agency said. “Officers will be in the area today to canvass for property stolen during these burglaries.”

One of the teenagers involved in the killing was identified by authorities as Dawnta Anthony Harris from Baltimore, who admitted in court documents obtained by FOX45 that he “drove at the officer” when she told him to get out of the vehicle while three others burglarized a house.

Harris has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder and is being held at the Baltimore County Department of Corrections, according to police. The 16-year-old is expected to appear for a bail review by Tuesday afternoon.

The other teenagers have not been identified.

Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence Sheridan said at a news conference that the fallen officer was wearing a body camera, and the footage will be reviewed later as part of the investigation.

He added that Americans are “seeing something in this country we’ve never seen before.”

“Officers who have died at the hands of gunshots is up,” Sheridan said. “This is a bad time in the United States for law enforcement.”

A man who said his son witnessed the deadly incident told FOX45 the officer tried to pull over the Jeep.

After the officer raised her gun at the people in the vehicle, the Jeep accelerated and “ran right over her, and raced out of the neighborhood,” Tony Kurek told FOX45.

Logan Kurek, who is a volunteer firefighter, told the Associated Press he heard his younger brother “frantically screaming,” and ran to perform CPR on the officer, who was bleeding from her injuries.

Kurek’s neighbor, Dahle Amendt, said he had just settled into his recliner for a rest when he heard a woman’s voice outside his house.

“I heard, ‘Get out of the car!’ ‘Get out of the car!’ Get out of the car!’ at least three times, and then a pop,” Amendt said.

The officer was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Authorities recovered an abandoned Jeep that was used in the killing, police confirmed to Fox News. The slaying marked the first time a female police officer was killed in the line of duty in the 148-year history of the Baltimore County Police Department.

“What exactly happened, we are not sure yet until an autopsy is performed,” Vinson said at a news conference Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the officer fired her weapon in the incident.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan tweeted following early reports of the incident to offer prayers to the “brave officer’s family.”

Investigators had urged residents in a sizable swath of Perry Hall to stay hunkered down inside their homes and lock all doors and windows as officers search the community fringed with woodlands.

Three elementary schools were kept on alert status for hours, with students and teachers told to stay in their school buildings as police continued a search for the suspects. But by Monday evening, parents were allowed to come to the schools to pick up their youngsters.

Since the start of 2018, at least 36 law enforcement officers across the US have died while on duty — with 24 of the deaths caused by gunfire.

Roughly 135 cops died in 2016, making it the deadliest year for police officers in at least five years, Fox News has found. While there were fewer deaths in 2017, the numbers weren’t much better: A total of 129 officers died last year. And 46 of those were caused by gunfire.

Fox News’ Griff Jenkins, Madeline Farber, Nicole Darrah and the Associated Press contributed to this report.