A Harford County sheriff’s deputy and a suspect were shot in an exchange of gunfire Friday while a drug task force was serving a search warrant at a Cecil County residence.
Three police officers, including the deputy and a state trooper, were assisting the Cecil County Narcotics Task Force in serving a warrant about 5 a.m. in the 300 block of Old Conowingo Road, where the resident was believed to be distributing cocaine, state police said.
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After announcing their presence, the officers attempted to open a closed bedroom door upstairs, which was being held shut on the other side by James William Ratledge, 60, police said.
Ratledge then fired shots through the wall next to the bedroom door, striking the Harford deputy in the chest, state police said.
The state trooper and an Elkton police officer returned fire, striking Ratledge in the torso, state police said.
Ratledge refused to leave the bedroom, but surrendered about 10 minutes later and was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where he was treated under police guard.
The deputy, an eight-year veteran whose name is being withheld, was wearing a bullet-proof vest and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said.
He was treated and released from Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace.
The state trooper who fired at Ratledge is a 10-year veteran. Police withheld his identity to protect him as an undercover officer.
Following the gunfire, state police criminal investigators obtained a second search warrant for the residence in order to investigate the police-involved shooting.
A second drug task force team was then called in to execute the original drug search warrant.
Charges against Ratledge are pending.
