Metro

In Brief

MARYLAND

Man Shoots at Police, Is Found Dead

A motorist suspected of driving drunk exchanged shots with Montgomery County police late last night, and an officer may have been saved from serious injury by his bullet-resistant vest, a county police spokeswoman said. The suspect was later found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Police said a motorist in a Mercedes who was believed to be driving under the influence had been pursued about 11 p.m. to Brink Road and Route 124 in the Gaithersburg area, where he got out of the vehicle and opened fire. Backup officers arrived and fired at the suspect, who fled.

After an intensive search, police early this morning spotted the suspect's body and a gun in a field near the intersection.

They said the protective vest worn by one of the officers was struck by gunfire but was not penetrated, and he remained at the scene during the search.

Three Die in I-95 Crash in Baltimore

Three people were killed yesterday in a fiery crash on Interstate 95 in Baltimore that temporarily shut down the highway in both directions, authorities said.

The crash, which involved three cars and two tractor-trailers, occurred about 4 p.m. in the southbound lanes, just before the toll plaza for the Fort McHenry Tunnel. The three people killed were in two of the cars. Two other people were injured.

Three of the four northbound lanes were reopened by 7 p.m., but the southbound lanes remained closed late last night. A spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority said all lanes were expected to be open well before 6 a.m. today. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Backups reached as far as six miles, but the MTA said it rerouted much of the affected traffic.

Low-Income Tax Relief Proposed

Montgomery County Council President Steven A. Silverman (D-At Large) yesterday unveiled a proposal to provide tax relief to about 10,000 low- and fixed-income homeowners while still covering an estimated $30 million budget gap.

Silverman proposes to pay for the $40 million package by raising the energy tax by about $40 per household per year, bringing the total energy tax bill to about $100 per household each year.

"I'm a business person. Raising taxes are a last resort," he explained. "But we have two choices: either don't fund our priorities or find cuts. And unless we're prepared to start firing teachers, librarians and bus drivers, because government budgets are largely people, we've got to find other solutions."

Silverman blamed budget cuts by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) for the county's budget gap. He said the council was struggling, for instance, to find a way to pay for a proposal to expand all-day kindergarten and pay for school construction.

He said county homeowners need some tax relief after three straight years of skyrocketing assessments. Council member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg) has proposed raising the energy tax in order to cut property taxes for all homeowners. Silverman said his plan is targeted to those most in need.

Water Taxi Survivors File Lawsuit

Three survivors of the deadly March capsizing of a water taxi in Baltimore filed a $17 million lawsuit yesterday. They allege that the Living Classrooms Foundation, which owns the Seaport Taxi fleet, and Baltimore Harbor Shuttle, which runs the fleet, failed to obtain readily available weather information about an approaching storm.