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Abingdon, Md. • A gunman fatally shot a sheriff's deputy inside a crowded restaurant at lunchtime Wednesday and later killed another deputy in a shootout nearby, authorities and witnesses said.

The gunman was killed in the shootout not far from the shopping center where the restaurant was situated, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. No bystanders were hurt.

Police haven't released a motive for the shooting, but the sheriff said he believed the first deputy who approached the gunman was shot because he was wearing a uniform. The shooter David Brian Evans, 67, had warrants out for his arrest in Harford County and Orange County, Florida, where he was accused of assaulting a police officer.

The slain officers were described as a 30-year veteran and a 16-year one. The sheriff said he had met with both of their families but was withholding their names because more relatives needed to be notified.

"This is a tragic day for the Harford County Sheriff's Office," Gahler said, tears in his eyes. "They were two outstanding deputies who served the citizens of this community faithfully."

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the officers.

The initial shooting took place inside a Panera restaurant in Abingdon, which is about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.

Sophia Faulkner, 15, said she and her mother were getting lunch and almost sat right next to the gunman. Instead, they chose a booth about 10 feet away because the man appeared "sketchy" and disheveled. He was sitting in the back of the restaurant and hadn't ordered any food, Faulkner said.

A sheriff's deputy was called to the restaurant just before noon, presumably because "someone knew who he was," Gahler said.

The deputy tried to talk to the man, who was apparently known to officers and workers at the restaurant. The deputy sat down, asked how he was doing, and the man shot him in the head.

"I saw him fall back out of his chair, and the blood started coming out," Faulkner said. "I didn't know how to process it. My mom said, 'What's going on?' and I said, 'Get down. Someone just got shot.'"

The shooter fled and "everyone started screaming," Faulkner said. Children at the restaurant — out of school because of snowfall — were running around.

Her mother, Lynn Faulkner, a registered nurse, said that she recognized the man and believed he was mentally ill and in need of social services.

"I've seen him there frequently, and I've seen him at areas of the library," she said. "He's definitely in need of mental health care, and he never should have had a gun."

Witnesses gave officers a description of the gunman and told them which way he was headed, the sheriff said. Deputies caught up with him and shots were exchanged, the sheriff said.

One of the deputies was treated at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Video showed an ambulance and a sheriff's car escorted by police on motorcycles leaving, Police lined both sides of the street and saluted when the vehicles drove by.