Suspect pursued injured officer seeking cover, fired again

In this Wednesday, April 26, 2017 photo, police investigate at the scene after a Delaware state trooper was shot and killed in the parking lot of a WaWa convenience store near Bear, Del. A man suspected of the shooting and killing the trooper remained barricaded early Thursday inside his house, where he fired shots at officers as they tried to negotiate a peaceful surrender, police said. (William Bretzger/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP)

MIDDLETOWN, Del. (AP) — A man who killed a state trooper and then was shot to death Thursday after a lengthy standoff with police had been fond of guns since middle school, a former neighbor and classmate said.

Burgon Sealy Jr., 26, was killed by law enforcement about 20 hours after he fatally shot the trooper and then holed up inside his home, firing repeatedly at the officers who had him surrounded, said the state police superintendent, Col. Nathaniel McQueen.

Sealy was shot when emerged from the home armed Thursday morning and “engaged police,” said McQueen, who declined to say if Sealy fired a gun at that time.

More details also emerged about Sealy’s encounter with Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard in the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store near Bear on Wednesday.

Ballard had noticed something suspicious about two men in a car when Sealy, the passenger, shot him with a handgun. Ballard, wounded, sought shelter behind a parked car, but Sealy chased after him and fired again, fatally striking the officer, McQueen said.

Sealy then fled in another car he had driven to the store. The driver of the first car was arrested at the scene.

Ballard, 32, died that afternoon at a hospital. His survivors include a wife and daughter, Gov. John Carney said Thursday.

Scott Adkins, 24, grew up on the same street as Sealy and went to middle school and high school with him. He remembered him as being fond of paintball and air soft guns as early as middle school.

“Multiple times, we would tell the (school) bus driver he was talking about guns and stuff like that, but nothing ever came of it,” Adkins said.

Records show Sealy was arrested in 2013 in Florida on gun and drug charges.

After shooting the officer, Sealy called relatives and told them what he’d done, McQueen said, and they reported that to police.

Sealy then drove about 15 miles (25 kilometers) to his home in a subdivision near Middletown. Alone in the house, Sealy refused to leave and repeatedly fired at the officers who surrounded him. None were hit.

Police warned nearby residents to stay inside and lock their doors, and hostage negotiators established contact, trying to get Sealy to surrender peacefully. With no quick resolution, they blew the door of the house off its hinges shortly after 8 p.m.

About eight hours later, after officers again came under fire, police again used explosives to blow off windows. Hours more passed before Sealy came out armed and was killed.

Ballard had been on the force for more than eight years, state police spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz said.

“My heart is with the officer’s family and the officers who have served beside him,” Carney said in a statement Wednesday.

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Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.