A young mother was one of two killed in what police are calling a "heinous targeted double murder" that left her children hiding for hours before calling for help.
According to police, 33-year-old Crimea Malita Baker, a suburban Chicago native living in New Market, Maryland, was found shot to death in a home in Frederick County alongside 34-year-old Sean Antoine Lange, of Virginia.
Police believe the pair were living together, along with Baker's four children, one of whom Lange was the father of.
Authorities said they were called to the home around 7 a.m. on Aug. 25 in the 7000 block of Mandalong Court for a reported shooting. An investigation indicated the couple was shot around 1:30 a.m., with at least 42 shots fired "at or into both individuals," according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
“This was a heinous, targeted double murder – a crime of rage and anger,” Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said, adding that it's the type of crime that "shocks the conscience."
Jenkins said the four children inside the home were unharmed and hid inside for hours until they felt safe enough to come out and call for help. One of the children found the bodies after they emerged from hiding.
The children were all 13 years old or younger. Baker, who grew up in Mundelein, Illinois, recently gave birth to her youngest child earlier this year.
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A fundraising page claiming to raise money to keep Baker's children together said the four are "currently safe and doing as well as they can be given the circumstances."
"Crimea had a beautiful spark in her. She touched everyone she met with her fun-loving personality and shaped her children's lives with her can-do attitude," Jennifer Duncan, who said Baker was a beloved friend, wrote on the page. "Crimea's death, of course, has impacted their lives in unimaginable ways."
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Jenkins said the children's world is "upside down" right now.
Police have not yet identified a suspect or suspects in the case, but said the incident appeared to be targeted.
"There is absolutely no reason to believe there is any risk or threat to the local public at large," Jenkins said in a statement. "I can assure the public that every available investigator and agency resource will be brought to bear in this case until the person(s) responsible are identified, arrested, and brought to justice."
Last week, police put out a call to area residents seeking surveillance video that may have captured anything from the night Baker and Lange were killed.
