In the late summer of 1983, a violent encounter outside a diner tragically cut short the life of Samuel Snyder, a 71-year-old White male who was a veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department. On the evening of August 10th, officers were dispatched to a disturbance at a restaurant located at the intersection of Loch Raven Boulevard and East Joppa Road. Upon their arrival, they encountered a physical altercation between a man and a woman, with several patrons attempting to intervene.
The initial officers managed to de-escalate the situation and placed the male suspect in his own vehicle while they conducted interviews with witnesses. Corporal Samuel Snyder, a thirty-year veteran of the force and its oldest active serving officer, had just arrived on the scene to provide backup. As he walked towards his fellow officers, the situation took a deadly turn. The suspect, who had been seated in his car, suddenly produced a handgun from beneath his seat and began firing.
In the ensuing chaos, five shots were fired by the suspect. One of these bullets struck Corporal Snyder in the back. Other officers on the scene immediately returned fire, striking the gunman in the abdomen. The wounded suspect was then taken into custody.
Corporal Snyder was critically injured and immediately transported to a local hospital for emergency medical treatment. He fought for his life for nearly two weeks before ultimately succumbing to his injuries on August 23, 1983. The suspect who was apprehended at the scene was wounded and taken into custody by the other officers present.
