Gunman then kills himself

by Joseph M. Giordano

On Friday afternoon, as employees of Keary Advertising on Rolling Mill Road readied for their annual Halloween office party, Dundalk resident Dennis McLaughlin parked his car next to the  building and walked through the front door with a pistol.
    About three minutes later, at 12:33 p.m., McLaughlin, who had just fired five shots into owner Wayne Keary, walked outside to the front lawn, pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.
    Witnesses told police there had been a domestic dispute between Keary, 59, and the 54-year-old Park Drive resident over McLaughlin’s estranged wife, Sharon, who formerly worked at the company, according to Baltimore County Police Department  spokesman Bill Toohey. “We believe it was domestic-related,” Toohey said Monday. “It seems that [Keary] was seeing [McLaughin’s] wife.”
    An employee of the Colgate-based business agreed.
     “About a month ago, Dennis threatened to come  back to the office and shoot everyone,” Middle River resident Diane Withrow said after the shooting. “We all knew that [Sharon] had left Wayne. We had a feeling something was going to happen.”
  

In September, Keary had a restraining order placed against McLaughlin, according to the Maryland Case Search.
    Keary Advertising opened in 1950 as a direct-mail printing service. The business expanded to include data processing and bar coding.
    Just before the shooting,  Withrow was at her desk waiting for the party to begin.    
    “I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard the shots,” she said. “After the first few, people started running out of the building. It took about three minutes, I would say.”
    Keary, a White Marsh resident, was pronounced dead at the scene. McLaughlin died on the way to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, according to Toohey.
    Another witness, 28-year-old Chris Ashley, said he saw McLaughlin  leave the building after the shooting.
    “The man looked wild,” said Ashley, who works across the street for Bridgestone/Firestone
tires.  “We thought it was firecrackers or something. Then we came out and I saw the guy put the gun to his head and fire. And that was it.”
    An employee from Keary Advertising confirmed that the company has remained open, but had no further comment.

Note: McLaughlin’s age and residence have been updated from this article’s print edition. Police initially provided incorrect information.