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Maryland man who shot 2 police officers gets life in prison

GLEN BURNIE, Md. — A Maryland man has been sentenced to three life terms in prison for bludgeoning a man to death with a sledgehammer and wounding two police officers.

Joseph Willis, of Pasadena, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for beating 44-year-old Christopher Lawrence Jones while he slept in his Glen Burnie home on Feb. 5, 2020.

Willis also pleaded guilty to attempted murder for seriously injuring two Anne Arundel County detectives by shooting them with a gun he stole from Jones’ house.

The shooting sparked a 16-hour manhunt that locked residents of a Stony Beach neighborhood in their homes and closed nearby county schools.

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