Who Is Robert Vicosa?
BALTIMORE (WJZ) – The days-long search for a former Baltimore County police officer wanted for kidnapping his daughters ended Thursday when Robert Vicosa, his daughters and a companion were found dead in western Maryland, WJZ has learned.
Sources told WJZ that Vicosa, Baltimore County Police Sgt. Tia Bynum and Vicosa's 6- and 7-year-old daughters, Aaminah and Giana, were found with gunshot wounds inside an SUV after a chase and crash near the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line in Smithsburg. All four are dead.
Maryland State Police did not release the identities of the vehicle's occupants during a briefing Thursday evening, citing the active investigation.
Who is Robert Vicosa?
Vicosa, 42, was a former Baltimore County police officer. He had been the subject of a days-long search that ensued after he allegedly attacked his wife, taking her captive at the family's Pennsylvania home and then taking off with the couple's daughters.
The search for Vicosa stretched from Pennsylvania, where he was seen multiple times this week, before he surfaced Wednesday in Baltimore County. Police said Vicosa and Bynum carjacked a man in Cockeysville and forced him to drive them around before setting him free.
That search came to an end Thursday afternoon when Pennsylvania State Police spotted an SUV matching a suspect vehicle description in western Maryland and began a pursuit. At some point, the vehicle left the road and crashed into a fence line along a rural road.
While police did not release the identities of those in the SUV, they confirmed that four people were found shot inside the vehicle. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth, a child, was airlifted to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Additional details weren't immediately available Thursday evening.
Vicosa was fired from the Baltimore County Police Department in August, the department confirmed. A police union newsletter shows Vicosa had been accused of sleeping on the job, insubordination and conduct unbecoming of an officer.
Details on the circumstances of those allegations weren't clear Thursday. A search of Maryland court records shows Vicosa filed an appeal in April 2020 against an unspecified administrative action taken by the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights Administrative Hearing Board (LEOBOR). The Baltimore County Circuit Court issued a ruling in December 2020, upholding the hearing board's call. The nature of the administrative action against Vicosa is unclear.