NEWPORT — An individual sought in connection with a Vermont Border Patrol agent’s killing was arrested Sunday evening in Allegany County, Maryland, according to detention center officials.
Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, 32, who authorities believe supplied weapons used in the January 20 shooting death of Agent David “Chris” Maland in Coventry, faces charges of handgun possession, trespassing on private property, obstructing and hindering police, and resisting or interfering with arrest, according to Maryland court records.
Federal authorities had been seeking Zajko since the fatal shooting. Investigators believe Zajko purchased two handguns — a .40-caliber and a .380-caliber semiautomatic — from a Mount Tabor gun store in February 2024. These weapons were recovered at the scene where Maland was killed during a traffic stop that also left one suspect dead.
At the time of the Border Patrol shooting, Zajko owned multiple properties in Orleans County, including an undeveloped plot in Derby and a residence on Webster Road in Coventry. The ATF had issued bulletins to gun dealers seeking information about her firearms purchases.
Zajko was already known to law enforcement. In January 2023, Pennsylvania investigators searched her Coventry home after her parents were found dead from gunshot wounds in their Delaware County residence. That search recovered cartridges potentially matching bullets from the Pennsylvania deaths.
Zajko was arrested in Maryland following “on-site activity” rather than warrants, according to a spokesperson the Allegany County Detention Center.
Zajko remains held pending a bail review hearing. Maryland State Police have confirmed the FBI is now involved in the investigation.
