Children Hid For Hours After Unknown Suspect Shot Parents Inside Home: Sheriff

Four children hid inside their Maryland home for hours after a shooter fired dozens of shots upstairs, leaving two parents dead in what authorities are calling “a crime of rage and anger.”

Crimea Malita Baker, 33, and Sean Lange, 34, were discovered dead in an upstairs bedroom of their home in New Market when Frederick County deputies responded around 7 a.m. to a report of a shooting, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said Tuesday.

Baker was the mother to all four kids, and Lange was the father to one of them.

A preliminary investigation suggests that Baker and Lange were shot 42 times at close range around 1:30 a.m., authorities said. The investigation is ongoing, and a suspect has not been identified.

Jenkins did not comment on whether there were signs of a break-in or say who called to report the shooting.

The four children, ages 13 and under, survived the shooting without injuries, Jenkins said.

The children told responding deputies that they waited until they felt safe to emerge from hiding later that morning, Jenkins said. He shared that one of the children had already discovered Baker and Lange dead in bed by the time deputies arrived.

“I can only say that their life is just destroyed, it’s upside-down right now,” Jenkins said.

He added that authorities believe the couple were targeted.

“This was a heinous, targeted double murder — a crime of rage and anger,” Jenkins said.

The children are now in the care of social services, according to Jenkins.

One of Baker’s friends remembered her in a post on Facebook as a courageous and hardworking person “who raised resilient, thoughtful tenderhearted children.”

“Even as I look through our videos I notice how every single one of them is filled with laughter,” her friend wrote.