Baltimore Officer Kills Firefighter, Girlfriend in Murder-Suicide

Oct. 28--A Baltimore City police officer shot and killed a firefighter and his girlfriend early Sunday morning, before turning the gun on himself, according to Anne Arundel County police.

The suspected murder-suicide -- which police said stemmed from a love triangle -- disturbed many on the suburban Glen Burnie street where firefighter Andrew Scott Hoffman, 27, lived, sent three families into mourning, and left a little boy without a mother.

"That was my best friend," said an emotional Fred Scheper, 29, of Pasadena, who came to the neighborhood after he heard of the shooting. "He saved people's lives every day."

Police say Baltimore Police Officer Christopher Lee Robinson, 37, of Abingdon, entered Hoffman's home armed with a gun, and shot the firefighter and his girlfriend, Marie Leanne Edith Hartman, 26, of Glen Burnie, around 1:35 a.m. Lt. T.J. Smith, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel police, said investigators probing the killings were "able to quickly determine this was a domestic-related murder-suicide" with no remaining "public threat."

"This is an absolute tragedy," he said.

Hoffman, who grew up in the area and attended Glen Burnie High School, had recently begun dating Hartman, friends and family said.

"He was the happiest I've even seen him in his life in the past two months with the new girlfriend," Scheper said.

Ed Chaney, Hartman's stepfather, said she dated Robinson "off and on" for more than a year. But after breaking up over the summer, Robinson became persistent that they get back together, Chaney said.

"About a month ago, she started saying that Chris was sending her text messages," Chaney said. "He wanted her back. He was saying, 'I love you. You and I need to be together.' Him being both in the Marine Corps and a city police officer, you don't think anything of it."

Saturday evening, Hoffman, Hartman and Hartman's 18-year-old sister, Brittany, attended a Halloween party, after which they picked up Taco Bell and returned to Hoffman's house for a bonfire, Chaney said. Unknown to them, they were being followed by Robinson, he said.

When Hoffman told him to leave, Robinson, who had been hiding a gun behind his back, "opened fire on Andy," Chaney said. "Brittany hid in the closet. She heard a bunch of wrestling and screaming going on and then she heard a bunch of a gunshots." The young sister fled out a window, he said.

Hartman leaves behind a 6-year-old son, Braedyn Cash.

"Braedyn doesn't know about mommy yet," Chaney said. "Braedyn is extremely close to Marie. We're trying to pick up the pieces and make sure he's taken care of. He's our No. 1 priority right now."

Hoffman's family said in a statement that he died trying to protect Hartman and her sister.

"We have lost someone who meant so much to us and so many family members and friends," they said. "It's hard to imagine going forward without him, but we know Andy died a hero.

Robinson was having a hard time moving on from the end of the relationship, especially upon learning a few weeks ago that Hartman had begun dating Hoffman, and he continued to text her and send her flowers, said Wayne Robinson, Christopher's brother and another member of the Baltimore Fire Department.

"He was having problems with this girl," Wayne Robinson, who was friends with Hoffman, recalled. "He asked me two weeks ago for advice. I told him to leave her be because she didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

Wayne Robinson said he was still in shock, saying no one had any indication that Christopher would become violent.

"I don't what happened last night, but the person that pulled that trigger wasn't the Chris that I know," Wayne Robinson said Sunday. "They told me this morning and I didn't believe it. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it happened. I lost a brother and I lost a friend. It's just crazy."

Police said both Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and Anne Arundel County Police Chief Kevin Davis responded to the scene.

Baltimore police officials said they'd begun an "immediate review" to see if "more can be done to help those returning to civilian life from military deployments," but declined to provide details of any military background Robinson had. Those who knew Hoffman said he was a U.S. Marine Corps.

"While at present there are no indications that a military deployment was the cause of this incident, this department recognizes the tremendous sacrifice made by the men and women who serve in the military," city police said in the statement.

Smith said Anne Arundel officers went door-to-door in the area, informing neighbors of the crime. He added that county officials removed Hoffman's dog from the home.

"It's a shock to the community," he said.

Neighbor Phil Sperlein, 58, said he was awakened by commotion around 1:30 a.m. -- when he saw a street full of police cars and officers "running around, yelling."

He described Hoffman has a "nice kid," who was "gregarious" and used to have friends over to play horseshoes. He said Hartman had been over at the house a lot in recent weeks.

"It's sad to say, but the gun culture that we got nowadays, everybody wants to solve their problems at the end of a pipe," Sperlein said. "I've got a temper, so I know I shouldn't own a gun. ... It was all over a woman. I don't get it. I love my wife, but there ain't a woman in the world worth going to jail or dying over."

Fire Chief Jeffrey Segal issued a statement regarding Hoffman's death, noting he was a "third-generation member of the fire department" who had been with the city department since 2006.

"We offer sincere condolences to the Hoffman family as they grieve this terrible loss," Segal said.

Segal noted that this summer, Hoffman was credited with helping to reunite a 3-year-old toddler who had wandered from his home in Anne Arundel with his family.

Hoffman had discovered Paul Marshall Jr. along the streets of Linthicum at 3:45 a.m. on July 23. "It kind of startled me. " Hoffman told The Sun. "I got him and asked him, 'What's the matter, buddy? Where do you live?' And all he could do was point up the road."

Hoffman and police tracked down the youngster's house. The boy's father, Paul Marshall, later thanked Hoffman, saying, "This really scared us thinking everything that could have happened."

The firefighter's family said the incident was one of several heroic acts in Hoffman's short life. "It was no surprise to us that Andy stopped to help that little boy," his family's statement says. "Andy loved children and was a beloved uncle to his young niece and nephew."

Hoffman also was awarded the 2010 "Chief Thomas J. Burke Courage Medal" for courageous acts in the line of duty for rescuing a man from a fire at 205 S. Gilmor Street, according to his family.

The department's Fire Boat Station flew its flag at half-mast in mourning of Hoffman's death. The Hollins Street station, where Hoffman served, had black material draping the building front on Sunday afternoon.

"Andy Hoffman had one love and that was the Baltimore City Fire Department," said firefighters union president Rick Hoffman, who is not related but was close friends with him.

"I cannot speak highly enough about this young man," Rick Hoffman said. "He was the epitome of what I want to represent."

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Hoffman brought his new girlfriend, Hartman, around to the union hall football tailgate to meet other firefighters, Rick Hoffman said.

He said Andrew Hoffman "went out a hero" and "did everything he could to keep this from happening."

It was the second time this year a Baltimore Police Officer, accused of a domestic violence homicide, has taken his own life, authorities said. In August, officer James Walton Smith, 49, awaiting trial for murder in the death of his fiancee, died in an apparent suicide in jail.

Wayne Robinson said his brother grew up in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore and joined the U.S. Marines after high school. Christopher Robinson became a sergeant in the Marines and was deployed in Okinawa, Japan, his brother said.

Robinson graduated from the Baltimore Police Department academy in mid-2010 and was assigned to the Eastern District as a patrol officer, his brother said. The Baltimore Police Department declined to provide details about Robinson's employment on Sunday.

He was not known to be confrontational, Wayne Robinson said.

"I understand that he's the bad guy in this situation but he wasn't a bad guy," Wayne Robinson said. "It's just unfortunate and very senseless."

Dee Beatty, a friend of Hartman's family in Glen Burnie, said Hartman aspired to one day become a police officer.

"Marie was an excellent mother," she said. "She was a beautiful girl. She was kind and caring and loving and she would help anybody. The sad part is a cop killed her and all she wanted to be was a cop."

Chaney described his stepdaughter, who was a project manager at a construction firm, as a "firecracker."

"She was always laughing. She was extremely happy with Andy," he said. "She came here two nights ago to carve pumpkins. She told us, 'This is serious between us. We were happy for her."

At the scene of the Glen Burnie killings -- in the 1100 block of Armistead Road -- neighbors said they were "shaking" that such violence could take place near their homes.

Scheper choked back tears as he talked about the death of his longtime friend.

"It's so tragic," he said. "I don't even have any words. Me and Andy were the closest, and now he's gone. I don't know why this guy would do this. To kill somebody and then take your own life, to me you're a frickin' coward."

Scheper said when he first heard the news, he couldn't believe it.

"I thought it was fake," he said. "It's hit me, but it ain't hit me. I feel like he's still going to call me in a little bit, but that's not going to happen."

Luke.Broadwater@baltsun.com

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