By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – An employee of a Maryland kitchen countertop company fatally shot three co-workers and critically wounded two others on Wednesday and is suspected in a later shooting in nearby Delaware, authorities said.

A manhunt was on for the suspected gunman, Radee Prince, 37, who entered Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland, just before 9 a.m. and fired multiple shots from a handgun, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters.

Three people died at the company’s premises in a business park northeast of Baltimore. Two people were taken to a hospital, one of whom had come out of surgery, he said.

Gahler called the shooting a “targeted attack.” Asked about the gunman’s possible motive, he said: “We believe he’s tied into a relationship here at work.”

Prince had worked for Advanced Granite Solutions for the past four months and had been scheduled to work on Wednesday, the sheriff said. The suspect fled in a black GMC Acadia with Delaware license plates after the shooting.

Police in Wilmington, Delaware, about 30 miles northeast of Edgewood, said in a statement that Prince was also being sought in connection with a shooting there about two hours later.

The statement did not give details about the incident and a police spokesman could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)