Maryland State Police identified one of the officers as Sander Cohen, 33, of Germantown. He was with the fire marshal’s office for nine years. The other victim was identified as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Carlos Wolff, according to authorities.
Wolff and Cohen were struck and killed by a vehicle while standing on the shoulder. Cohen was on scene assisting Wolff with a disabled vehicle at the time of the fatal crash.
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“We come to work to help others and providing patient care on one of our own is the worst of the circumstances we could ever face,” Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said. “Last night, that was the case. We didn’t know that he was involved until we arrived. As we were operating on the scene, we treated everyone, and we were starting to learn that one of the members involved was one of our own.”
Cohen was remembered in a post on the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department website. The post said the Winston Churchill High School graduate grew up in Rockville.
“It’s a heavy burden to weigh on those participants involved,” Goldstein said. “We’re grouping together, rallying together to support each other and going through the grieving process to then be able to move into the healing process.”
Goldstein said Cohen’s actions represented what any firefighter would have done.
“All indications is that they were in the most opportune place they could be—on the shoulder next to the Jersey wall—when tragically that other vehicle came down and struck them,” Goldstein said. “That roadway is so big there, that roadway is so dangerous there that they were in the place they needed to be to be out of harm’s way as much as possible.” source
Cohen joined the volunteer fire department in 2003. He was a Thursday shift leader and previously a member of the volunteer department’s board of directors.
“He will be sorely missed by his many friends within the fire/rescue and law enforcement communities,” the post on the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department website says.
Gov. Larry Hogan posted on Twitter: “The First Lady and I are heartbroken to learn of the tragic loss of two law enforcement officers who were struck and killed last night on I-270. We are praying for their families and loved ones in this time of grief.”
He added: “FBI Supervisory Special Agent Carlos Wolff & Lt. Sander Cohen, deputy chief of MD State Fire Marshal’s Office & member of Rockville Vol Fire Dpt, served our communities every day to keep families safe. We thank these officers for their selfless dedication to our state & nation.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends at this difficult time.