3-14-2016-ERNIE ALLEN’S-TOP STORY-

CHEVERLY, Md. (AP) — A police officer was fatally shot in an “unprovoked attack” near a police station in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital, authorities said Sunday.

A second person, not a police officer, also was shot and wounded, police said. Two suspects in the officer’s shooting were in custody.

Police identified the slain officer as 28-year-old Jacai Colson, a four-year veteran of the Prince George’s County Police Department who was days shy of his birthday.

The police department said on Twitter that Colson “lost his life in defense of this community today. This was an unprovoked attack.” Authorities didn’t immediately elaborate on the tweet.

Police had originally advised residents near the police station in Landover to stay inside, and others to avoid the area, because of an “active shooter” situation. They then lifted the “shelter in place” advice in a message on Twitter soon after the second suspect was apprehended.

The shooting occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at community center next to the Landover station in the suburb of Prince George’s County, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C.

Alan Doubleday, assistant chief of the Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Services Department, said a person who was shot was taken by ambulance to Prince George’s Hospital Center. That person appeared to be in stable condition, Doubleday said.

He said the officer was taken to the same hospital by police.

Parked police cars lined road to the hospital Sunday evening. Several officers crowded into the hospital’s lobby, quietly waiting to learn details about the officer’s condition from their chief.

By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press.