Report: Frederick Sheriff Says Injuries Show Man Shot in Mt. Airy Pointed Gun

The Frederick County sheriff's office told the Frederick News-Post last week that injuries to the hands of a 19-year-old man shot and killed by sheriff's deputies earlier this month show the man was pointing a shotgun at the time he was killed.

At the time of the shooting, sheriff's deputies were serving a Howard County Police search warrant related to a Mt. Airy home invasion in which one suspect was allegedly armed with a shotgun.

The News-Post reported that police said the shotgun's pump action and stock were damaged and the weapon was loaded, with a round in the chamber, when 19-year-old Daniel Vail was killed inside his Mt. Airy home.

Howard County police said the other two suspects in the home invasion have not been arrested as of Tuesday.

The attorney representing Vail's family, Clark Ahlers, told the News-Post he was interested to see the physical evidence police "claim exists."

Vail's obituary notes he was a 2011 graduate of South Carroll High School, where he played football, and was most recently employed at the Ridgeville Service Center.

According to Maryland court records, Vail's only previous criminal charge was posession of marijuana in Ocean City in June 2012.

Frederick Sheriff's deputies Charles Zang, a 15-year-veteran of the sheriff's office, and Kevin Riffle, a 7-year veteran, shot Vail while serving the search warrant, according to police.

Zang previously shot and killed another man, Charles Nobel Sines, inside Sines' Frederick home in 2005, after Sines refused to drop his shotgun, according to the News-Post.

Ahlers was reached by Patch on Tuesday, but declined to elaborate further about the case.

Related:

- Teen Killed by Frederick Sheriff's Deputies Serving Howard County Warrant

- 

- Police: Man Threatened to Kill Officers and Himself