By David Anderson
The Aegis
ABINGDON, Md. — Susie Tingler, the Abingdon Fire Company’s EMS chief, wiped away tears as Chief Rob Glassman described how she and other EMS workers — protected by police — went into Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood on Oct 18, 2017 and saved two people who had been injured in a mass shooting.
Glassman honored Tingler “for putting herself in harm’s way to serve her community.” He presented a certificate for meritorious service to her during the company’s annual awards banquet Saturday evening at the Level Fire Hall.
Five people were shot at Advanced Granite Solutions, three fatally, and a sixth person was shot in Delaware before the suspect, Radee L. Prince, of Elkton, was caught in the Wilmington area.
Glassman said he and Tingler had attended a “rescue task force” training session in September. Jeremy Mothershed, a Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputy and volunteer EMS worker, developed the training so local fire and EMS personnel could advance under police cover and get to the victims of an active shooter, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Glassman recalled a moderator stressing during the training that “it wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when,” an active shooter would strike in Harford County.
“We didn’t know that day was going to come on Oct. 18 at Advanced Granite Solutions,” Glassman said.
He said Mothershed was one of the first deputies to arrive at the shooting scene, and he said a rescue task force needed to be set up.
Tingler was the first responder from Abingdon on the scene. She and EMS workers from the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company volunteered to go in, Glassman said.
“Due to the fact that they went in when they did, they were able to provide care to two of the people in there and had a successful outcome,” he said.
Tingler, who said later she went into the factory with Drew Halman, of Joppa-Magnolia, said Mothershed “played the biggest role in bringing the agencies together.”
Tingler, who works for the Federal Highway Administration, has been in EMS for 17 years. Her husband, Anthony, is an EMS captain with Abingdon, and he also responded to the shooting.
“This was probably one of my most emotional calls in the 17 years that I’ve been doing it,” she said.
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